The Refuge
by Dedreas
Summary: After stopping the shipment of arsenal to a secret undercover gang, Hiram Berry: Central Intelligence's Director starts receiving letters and death threats towards his daughter Rachel Berry. Fearing for his daughter's life, Hiram enlists a man from the US Army to protect his one and only daughter: Finn Hudson.
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** Hi guys, thanks for reading this and embarking on an awesome journey with Finn, Rachel and I. Since this is an 'alternate universe', I will probably only stick to Rachel and Finn as the main characters and add the occasional new character. But other than that, I hope you enjoy! Sit back, relax and read

 **CHAPTER ONE**

Hiram Berry gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance, frustration and anger. It has taken him eight months but he finally outsmarted them. Pushing his team to their limits, Central Intelligence have been working tirelessly and endlessly to locate the arsenal sent to an extreme group called the Talisman. After blood, sweat and tears, Hiram Berry and his team of CIA agents have finally hosed in on the location: Ten kilometres from Long Beach on a cargo ship named the "Royale."

Hiram slammed his fist on the table and pointed viciously at the large screen.

"Boom. We got it."

"A team has been dispatched and is 200 metres and closing from the 'Royale." A man informed Hiram.

Hiram took a much-needed breath and watched the screen intently, all he could do was pray and hope that the boat will be stopped, otherwise the results would be catastrophic. If the Talisman manages to obtain the arsenal on board the ship, America would be in ruins. Failure was definitely not an option.

"The team is on the ship."

Hiram's heartbeat quickened, it protruded out of his chest violently and painfully. 'Stressful' was not a word capable of describing the torrent of emotions felt daily in his line of work. But he was good at his job as the director of the CIA and he knew it.

Shouts and gunshots could be heard echoing through the microphone in the agency. Hiram's whole team stopped work and listened to the recording, some closed their eyes with two index fingers tapping on their lips and some shook with nervousness.

"We have the arsenal in our possession. I repeat, we have the arsenal in our possession."

The entire agency cheered and Hiram Berry jumped up and screamed. His whole team clapped and celebrated the news. He had done it. The mission was a success and Hiram couldn't have been happier. He punched the air multiple times and hugged his colleagues joyously.

"We did it team. We fucking did it."

Two months later ~

Hiram sat in his penthouse with his lifelong partner LeRoy and enjoyed a nice chicken roast for dinner.

"This came in the mail today by the way." LeRoy said and handed over an envelope to Hiram. He opened it and immediately stood up in rage. Shocked and worried, LeRoy stood up and walked over to his partner to read the note but it wasn't a note: it was a coloured photo of their daughter Rachel Berry walking home from NYADA with a large red cross drawn on her face. The words "Rachel Berry will die" had been etched into the photo.

Hiram placed a hand over his mouth and noticed a small 'T' written the bottom right corner of the photo. He realised it was the Talisman, this must be the revenge they were plotting. They were going to harm his baby girl because he stopped them and he needed to prevent this.

"LeRoy call Central Intelligence, I need to speak with them urgently."

"I want one of your best men to protect my daughter Rachel Berry. I've been receiving death threats from the Talisman and I need to make sure she is safe and well-protected from those men while I search for them. So, I am asking you to help me recruit a bodyguard for my daughter." Hiram spoke with one of the CIA's trainer with urgency in his voice.

"Alright, I'll see who I have."

Kevin Clarke led Hiram Berry into his office and laid down twelve images of his recruits on the table. After observing their faces, Clarke eliminated seven from the table and was left with five possible candidates.

"I got Wolfe Coven, Mitch Sully, Todd Heller, Dewey Andreas and lastly Finn Hudson. I strongly believe that these five men are one of the most elite and capable men I've seen and I do think they are capable and trained to protect your daughter, Mr Berry."

"Can I see them in action?"

Hiram followed Clarke into the obstacle course outside headquarters and observed from a distance. Clarke proceeded down the stairs towards his chosen men and conducted many drills. Each drill increased in difficulty and one by one, he studied each of them. Clarke wanted to find a kid with power, strength and speed but also charisma and wit. He finally narrowed it down to two men: best buds Finn Hudson and Dewey Andreas. He remembered when the two first arrived. Clarke knew from the get-go that Hudson and Andreas had potential, they weren't only 'brawns' like the others but they also had brains…and looks too.

Clarke called Hiram from the stairs and presented Dewey and Finn. Hiram inspected carefully, he knew he gave the impression of a picky chooser but he was willing to have that reputation if it meant protecting his one and only daughter. He looked at Dewey: he was at least six feet with dark brown hair and a structured jawline body and face but his most prominent features were his two striking blue eyes. Finn on the other hand had a mysterious vibe to him. He had short brown hair, brown eyes but he had a more natural and calmer face. Like Dewey, Finn was at least six feet with a ripped body and sharp jawline but there was something about him that he couldn't put his finger on and he liked it.

"Congratulations, Mr Hudson. You have been chosen to protect the director's daughter." Clarke said and shook Finn's hand.

"It will be an honour sir." Finn nodded and marched away with Dewey to his room to pack for New York. He was excited but nervous at the same time. He stared at the picture of Rachel Berry for a while and studied her features. She was surprisingly beautiful with her wavy brown hair and eyes, she looked delicate but strong and Finn smiled.

After finding out Dewey would be his right hand man, the duo travelled to New York on a train and thought about what the mission would be like and how it will turn out. Finn had been on many tours to the middle east, been caught in the middle of a gunfire and served his country on many dangerous and life-threatening missions but something about protecting one Rachel Berry made him uneasy and nervous even. It was something about her that made him feel more alive then running through a cascade of bullets.

He was excited to get to New York. He was excited to meet this Rachel Berry.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Rachel hated Tuesdays. Absolutely hated them. Cassandra pushed each of her students to their limits but with Rachel: she felt it was more personal. Rachel lived in a large apartment with Kurt in New York city. It was her childhood dream to be accepted into a prestigious performing arts school in New york with her gay best friend and so far, life has been quite fair. After winning Nationals in glee club with the New Directions, Rachel finally felt her dreams were coming true.

She got dressed into her black uniform, combed her hair, brushed her teeth and walked towards the kitchen. Kurt was already waltzing around the kitchen making his signature green juice, his right hand held the blender's lid tightly and the other hand was clasped over a phone.

"Yes dad I'm fine." Kurt replied and continued adding celery, kale and apple.

"Rachel and I are settling in, we have classes this afternoon."

Rachel sat on the bench top with her head in her hands. She couldn't remember the last time she talked to her dads. They were both in Virginia and were both _very_ busy. Rachel could never work out when to call them, her dads were always either 'stalking criminals', 'arresting terrorists' or 'preventing a nuclear weapon from destroying America'. She remembered one time: a couple of months back, Rachel had arrived in New York carrying her pink suitcase and was dying to call her dads. She picked up her phone and dialled eagerly, her father Hiram picked up. Seconds into the conversation, shouting could be heard from the other side.

"Sorry Rachel, Daddy has to stop a terrorist from bombing the Hoover Dam."

The conversation ended there.

Kurt finally turned around with a big smile on his face and handed the phone over to Rachel.

"He wants to talk to you." Kurt mouthed and poured his juice into two glass cups.

"Hi Burt."

"Hi Rachel, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine."

"You settling in okay with Kurt?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking."

"Okay, I'll cut to the chase. I'm planning on coming to New York to pay you two a visit in a couple of month's time. Kurt's my son and you are like a daughter to me so I reckon…like a good dad…I should see how kids are doing. How does that sound?"

"That's great, Kurt and I are excited to see you."

"Great, I'll let you go now. Talk to you later."

Rachel ended the call and placed the phone on the table.

"Can you imagine my dad in New York?" Kurt said and the two fell into laughter.

* * *

Finn and Dewey finally arrived in New York. They grabbed their duffel bags and caught a cab to their accommodation: an apartment, ten metres away from Rachel Berry's apartment. Once the duo reached their apartment, Dewey took a much-needed shower while Finn studied Rachel's itinerary. Hiram had sent Finn a copy of Rachel's schedule. He found out that Rachel is studying at NYADA, she lives with a roommate called Kurt Hummel and today she has dance class until five pm. Dewey walked out and was dressed in a white collared shirt, jeans and black leather shoes. After a shower, Finn changed into a suit and got himself ready for NYADA.

Holding a picture of Rachel in his hand and NYADA's address, Finn parted ways with Dewey and decided to walk to the performing arts school. New York was certainly different, Dewey and him were country boys and the city was certainly a change. Finn grew up in Ohio and went to a small school on the outskirts, he found out that Rachel also grew up in Ohio and studied at McKinley. His best mate grew up in Maine and spent half his life around farms and horses. Finn knew that Dewey probably disliked the buzz that was New York.

Walking with his hands in his pockets, Finn took in all his surroundings: the sight, smell and sound. He checked his watch and realised he was a couple minutes early, Rachel's class doesn't start until twelve. He finally arrived at NYADA and after he was acknowledged by the reception, Finn sat down on the huge black sofas and waited for Rachel.

Rachel and Kurt walked through the two large doors of NYADA and checked the itinerary. Dance class was in room twelve with Rachel's best friend: Cassandra. Rachel prepped herself before she met Cassandra and finally walked towards the room.

On the other side of the wall, Finn talked to Dewey on the phone.

"No mate, I haven't seen her yet."

"Yes, I do know what she looks like."

Finn laid back and observed the students running about in front of him. He looked for a girl with wavy brown hair, brown eyes and a fairly large nose. Suddenly, Finn's eyes caught sight of a girl that matched his description, she was walking alongside another man, he was probably Kurt Hummel. Without being too obvious, Finn stood up and followed the two. He held his bodyguard badge in his left hand and stealthily followed Rachel upstairs, around corners and into rooms.

Rachel said goodbye to Kurt and arrived at Room twelve, Cassandra hadn't arrived yet. It was her with a couple students only. Rachel was about to change into her dance shoes when she saw five girls staring at a man outside. The girls looked besotted and infatuated at this suited man. They giggled, laughed and looked up and down at his frame. They finally walked in and spoke.

"My god, he is so tall."

"He is so dreamy and handsome. I think I'm in love."

"I always love the tall, dark and mysterious ones."

Feeling intrigued, Rachel started walking towards the man. Some of her classmates started surrounding him and asking him questions. He seemed chill and went along with the frenzy. Rachel looked outside and saw a tall, muscular man. He had gorgeous brown eyes, short neat hair and adorable dimples; freckles dotted his perfectly shaped nose and his suit made him more desirable. She thought about her classmates and schoolmates and wondered who was the lucky girl who scored a date with this man.

Rachel decreased the distance between them and finally their eyes met. Her heart skipped a beat and her mouth became dry. Her body was betraying her. _You don't even know him. He could be some sort of a murderer._ Rachel told herself as she froze in position. The man pushed off the wall and started walking towards her, the sea of girls parted as he walked until finally they were face to face.

"Hi I'm Finn Hudson."

"I'm Rachel." She whispered

"Hey Rachel…I'm your bodyguard."

Rachel's mouth dropped. The butterflies in her stomach flew out of her system, her childish thoughts dissolved and she was shaken back into reality.

"What?" Rachel asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"I'm your bodyguard."

"Hold on, is this a joke? Am I on Punk'd?"

"No."

"Why the hell would I need a bodyguard?"

"Call your dad."

Rachel squinted and reached for her phone. Finn looked at the way Rachel spoke with Mr Berry. He wasn't expecting the conversation and first introductions to go this way. He pictured himself telling Rachel he was her bodyguard and her accepting it. But here he was looking at Rachel talking quite angrily to her dad. He started to sweat a bit. Finn had never had an argument with a girl before, he didn't know what to do next.

Rachel ended the call.

"Look, my dad thinks that I need you to keep my safe but I'm perfectly okay on my own. Thanks for coming all the way to New York but I don't need a bodyguard." Rachel said and shoved a fifty-dollar bill into Finn's hand. "You can use that for the train fare home. Rachel smiled, lifted her bag on one shoulder and walked into class.

Finn stood still; he knew Hiram would want him to stay. It was his duty to protect her, he knew the dangers that were coming and he couldn't leave her alone. Finn decided to wait at NYADA; he was still going to be her bodyguard even if Rachel felt she didn't need one. Finn slumped onto a chair, pulled his right leg over his left knee and waited.

His phone rang and Finn saw that it was Dewey.

"So how did it go?"

"Not too well…actually not well at all." Finn sighed at stared at the closed door in front of him. "She wasn't too ecstatic about having a bodyguard."

"What? Not even a bodyguard that looks like a fucking model?" Dewey laughed and Finn smiled.

"I think she's one of those independent: 'I-can-take-care-of-myself' types"

"Oh well, at least she's safe with us."

Finn agreed and ended the call. Another four hours of waiting.

* * *

Rachel couldn't concentrate in class today after her little meeting with her so called bodyguard. Cassandra was being extra bitchy today, which made matters worse. Rachel had a hunch 'Finn Hudson' was still outside, staring at the door.

Rachel thought about it, he _was_ pretty cute…actually really cute. No. Really hot.

Rachel shook her head. No. Focus. Five-six-seven-eight, with arms outstretched Rachel spinned and leapt across the dance floor.

* * *

Dewey tapped his index finger on his lips. He had lied to Finn; he didn't come to New York to be Rachel's second bodyguard. No. Hiram gave him another mission, a secret, private mission. Dewey Andreas came to New York to figure out the location of the Talisman. He was the best field agent in the CIA and the only man for the job. His job was not only to protect Rachel Berry but to protect his best mate and America. He was the only ranger with white thread sewn on his uniform in Ranger school, Dewey made it through the winter: the hardest time of the year to train and so he was granted the honour to attach his ranger tab with the special thread. He was a talented man and he knew it.

Dewey laid the blueprint on the table and studied the drawn circles on the map. The circles represented the possible locations of the Talisman. His job was to enter the locations with his team of agents and flush the gang out towards a waiting Hiram. Dewey wasn't scared of his mission, heck he wasn't even scared of death, he was scared that Finn would find out. The job was a suicide mission and Finn would do everything he could to stop the mission. Dewey knew Finn couldn't bear to see him die. It was going to be a difficult burden to keep.

* * *

Finn almost dozed off a couple of times, just another twenty minutes before the end of class. After hours of humming to himself and twiddling his thumbs, Finn had now turned to a loose string on his suit for entertainment. Suddenly, he felt a figure walk towards him. Finn looked up and saw Kurt Hummel.

"My father told me about Hiram. You're Rachel's bodyguard right?"

Kurt asked and took a seat next to Finn.

"Yeah, I am."

"I overheard your conversation with Rachel, I know that she doesn't want you but can I tell you something?"

Finn shrugged. "Yeah sure."

"I know what's been going on, Hiram has told me everything. I know about the death threats and the Talisman and I just need your promise that you will protect her no matter what. I need her to be safe and I know you can keep her safe." Kurt had his hand outstretched; he was expecting a handshake for confirmation. Finn nodded understandably and shook the hand. Kurt smiled and continued talking to him until the class ended.

Kurt was right. No matter how Rachel may feel about him being her bodyguard, Finn made a promise to Hiram, himself and Kurt that he will keep Rachel safe and Finn…has never broken a promise.

* * *

So that's chapter two for ya . You got to know more about each individual character particularly Finn and my new character Dewey. Even though Rachel may be a bit cold towards Finn, don't worry, that will change soon. Expect to see some future romance, action and hype.

Thanks for reading,

Dedreas


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

"What did you say your name was again?" Rachel asked as she walked alongside Finn on a small pathway leading away from NYADA.

"Finn Hudson."

Rachel nodded and continued walking. She couldn't maintain eye contact. She just couldn't. Something about Finn made her nervous, his demeanour was mature and mysterious which made Rachel think of many questions about his past.

"I think my father is overreacting, there are going to be many problems that will surface from his line of work and terrorists bluff sometimes."

"Miss Berry, from experience: terrorists never bluff. They mean business. Your father stopped the shipment of arsenal that means he halted their plans. They aren't joking around when they send threats, they aren't joking about killing you. You have to be careful. Having trained men like myself and my friend is the safest way to go." Finn explained politely

Kurt leaned over Rachel's shoulders and whispered:

"I agree with everything he just said."

Rachel made a face and sighed. She turned and faced Finn. He was so tall, Rachel had to literally look up to speak to him.

"You made your point but my opinion stands. My father has men on standby and if things do go wrong, these men are trained to look for me. That's ten more manpower then just one alone." Rachel shrugged and quickened her pace leaving an increasing gap between herself, Finn and Kurt.

Finn and Kurt continued following Rachel until a girl came running towards the three with a handful of flyers.

"There's a party on tonight. Make sure you come." The girl smiled and darted off trying to recruit more people for the party.

Finn looked over Rachel's shoulders for the address but she reacted quickly and folded the paper.

Kurt handed Finn his flyer.

"Don't worry, I'm invited too. You can be my plus one."

After dropping Rachel off at her apartment with Kurt, Finn made his way across the street to his temporary home. Dewey was sitting in the living room with two cans of Red Bull laid askew on the table. Still in his collared shirt and jeans, Dewey was focused on his computer.

"So? How was it?" Dewey asked curiously.

"I told you man, she thinks she's perfectly fine on her own." Finn slumped into his couch and rubbed his tired eyes.

"I'm going to a party tonight. Rachel's invited so I have to be her secret chaperone." Finn said and looked over at Dewey. Dewey leaned back and swivelled around to Finn, he nodded.

"Cool, have fun."

"I would love for you to come, there's drinks and stuff. I need your moral support. This Rachel Berry mission is proving to be quite difficult."

Dewey took a long intake of breath and shook his head.

"Sorry mate, I'm feeling quite tired. You go have fun."

Finn sighed and got up. He went to his room and changed into a white shirt and jeans jacket. He waited for Kurt's cue before catching a cab to the venue.

Kurt was already waiting for him outside a grand, white house. Finn walked out towards Kurt and the two walked in.

"Rachel's already in there. Make sure you stay hidden, she'll probably chuck a fit if she sees you."

Finn absorbed the information and casually walked around. He grabbed a couple of drinks and ate a handful of snacks and finger food. He never did like parties. Dewey and him were more of the quiet types, the ones who would stay at home and read a good action book or watch TV. Finn stood and leant against the staircase, he finally saw Rachel and pretended to take a drink out of his cup. Rachel was talking to a couple of her girlfriends in the dining room. Luckily, she hadn't seen him yet.

Finn slowly walked around the wall to change his hideout. He couldn't risk being detected.

Suddenly the music changed. The nice chill tempo erupted into a frenzied, raucous sound. Many of the student bodies began jumping up and down and energetically dancing. A couple of the students had asked him to dance but Finn declined nicely, he wasn't here to have a good time, he was here to keep an eye out for Rachel. Finn wondered who was the owner of the house. The house became dirtier at each passing hour. Empty cups littered the ground, tissue paper, food and drink spills dotted the ground in pockets: Finn had to be careful where he treaded.

Rachel started moving around and Finn followed. He wished his best mate were here to keep him company. Dewey wasn't the type of guy who would ditch a friend at a party, he would be right by your side until the very end. Finn admired Dewey's personality but he wasn't always serious and work minded. Dewey signed up for the delta force after terrorist activity killed his mother, father and fiancée. Finn understood his choice because like Dewey, Finn signed up for the army to follow in his father's footsteps. Even though his father had a dishonourable discharge, he needed to clear the Hudson name and make his mother proud. Finn guessed that was the reason why Dewey and him became great friends: they signed up for family. Finn smiled, he was grateful to have friend like that.

Rachel finally sat down on a couch and rested. Five girls waltzed into the room and rang a loud bell.

"Let's have an open mic performance. If you want, you can come up here and perform. No judgement just entertainment." The girl with the Afro stated and a crowd of students circled around the mic. A keyboard, guitar and Cajon were laid behind the mic and the performances started. Rachel ran through a dozen songs in her head and agreed to sing one song. She knew she was going to blow the roof off of the house.

Finn stood with his arms crossed behind the wall, he looked at the student body and was thankful for the large crowd. They hid his large frame away from Rachel. One by one students of different years got up and performed, some played guitar, some played piano and others sang wonderfully. Finn was about to doze off when finally Rachel mustered the courage to perform.

Finn lifted his eyebrows with curiosity and tilted his head. He had never heard Rachel Berry sing before, he was quite excited to hear it.

Rachel gripped the mic tight and sang a rendition of 'Make you feel my love.' After she finished, the whole crowd clapped and Finn found himself clapping and whistling as well. Finn looked at Rachel, after her performance Rachel kept walking towards the bathroom.

Suddenly, two fairly large men came in through the front door and pushed past Finn.

'Stupid gate crashers' Finn thought and continued looking at Rachel, it took him a second but then Finn realised the gate crashers were following Rachel. Finn pushed off from the wall and quickened his pace. Rachel walked into the bathroom and the two men entered after her and locked the door tight.

Finn opened his mouth with alarm and ran towards the bathroom. Several drunk girls walked in front of him and began touching his chest and shirt. He needed them out of the way. Rachel was in trouble. Finn had no choice but to push the girls over, the toppled over in a drunken state and stayed on the ground. Finn ran towards the bathroom door and started knocking it down.

* * *

Rachel felt proud of herself, her rendition was unique and different and Rachel knew she was the best out of all the performers. Rachel walked into the bathroom to freshen up, she needed to tie her hair up and apply another coat of lipstick. Abruptly, the door slammed shut and two large men walked in. Rachel dropped her purse with fright and backed towards the edge of the bathroom. Her fingers flew around the room hoping to find a weapon. They men lunged and grabbed her arms and legs. Rachel screamed and tears began to form in her eyes.

Finn tightened the muscles in his shoulder and bashed against the door.

"RACHEL!" he shouted. Finn took a step back and focussed all his strength onto his right leg. Finn ran and kicked down the door. The two men got up and ran towards him but they were no match for one Finn Hudson. Finn dodged the man's left fist and hooked his arm around the man's shoulder. Finn twisted and popped it out of place. Dislocation. Still holding the dislocated shoulder, Finn jumped up and kicked the other man's stomach, he doubled over in pain and fell to the floor. Finn found two ropes and tied their hands behind their back. Finn ran inside the bathroom and helped Rachel off her feet.

Still shocked from what just happened. Rachel gripped Finn's hand and biceps tightly and ran out of the house towards a pathway. It was already nightfall but streetlights illuminated the path.

After a couple minutes walk, Rachel stopped and turned to Finn. Finn was expecting a never-ending monologue about her 'being able to handle those men on her own'…but she didn't open her mouth, instead Rachel stepped towards Finn and hugged him

"Thankyou, Finn." She whispered and buried her face in his shoulder. Finn gently smiled and returned the hug. The duo hugged for at least ten seconds until Finn broke away.

"Do you wanna get some ice-cream?"

* * *

The phone rang loudly, Dewey picked it up.

"Finn just left."

"Okay good. Your team is waiting for you downstairs and the director of the operation is on his way to brief you."

"I'll be here waiting."

"This mission is still a secret to Finn?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, let's keep it that way. The less Finn knows about the mission, the more time he'll spend looking after my daughter."

Hiram hung up and Dewey dropped the phone on the table. The doorbell rang and his team filed in. Dewey saw a couple of his ranger buddies: Riccardo, Steven, Jesse, Ben and a newbie: James.

Dewey shook hands with each of them and led them to his computer. The possible locations of the Talisman blinked rhythmically in red light and Dewey told his team to circle around. The director finally arrived and walked towards the team.

"These are Hiram's orders: Dewey will be the captain of this operation. Whatever he says, you do. Our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break into these five different locations undetected and find the Talisman. From then on, you will be expected to infiltrate their headquarters, capture their leader: a man named Udfar and do all that is necessary to make sure his men do not see the light of day again. Is that clear?"

The team nodded.

"Sir, yes, Sir."

The director shook hands and marched away.

"You heard the director but there's one rule i want and need to change." Dewey spoke and his team looked at each other with confusion. "Whatever ideas you have about this mission, i don't want you to keep to yourself. If you have a plan i want to hear it. We are a team so we should start treating each other like one. Got it?"

* * *

Rachel took Finn to her favourite Gelato stall and ordered a scoop of strawberry for herself and two scoops of mango for Finn: her bodyguard. The two walked alongside each other on a boardwalk overlooking a nice, calm reservoir.

"First i'd like to apologise. I've probably been the biggest jerk to you but you still stood by me."

Finn didn't reply.

"It's so stupid how it takes one accident for me to realise that i'm not safe. I'm not capable of protecting myself, i can't even defend myself from two frat boys let alone terrorists. If the offer still stands, i wish you could stay and still be my bodyguard."

"I'm still here aren't i?" Finn smiled and took a bite out of his ice cream.

"Okay." Rachel returned the smile and stood closer to Finn for warmth.

Finn walked Rachel home and finally stood in front of her apartment.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay." Rachel said and before she could stop herself, she leaned in and kissed Finn on his cheek. His perfume rushed into her nose and sent tingles throughout her body.

Finn stayed until Rachel walked into her apartment and was out of sight.

"Don't worry, i'll be here."

* * *

Thanks for the reviews! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Rachel couldn't sleep that night. Her heart was pounding and her head raced with a million thoughts about the events that had unfolded: the party, the two men…Finn. Rachel could feel herself falling for Finn, she knew it wasn't long until she would trust her heart and fall deeply in love. Finn had saved her, he stood by her even though she cast him aside. Rachel cringed at the memory of when she shoved a fifty dollar bill into Finn's hands. All she could feel was gratitude and thankfulness for Finn. Rachel heard her phone vibrate on her bedside table. It was her dad.

"Hey."

"Rachel, have you given it much thought? You need a bodyguard, you need someone to keep you safe, you nee-"

"I need Finn," Rachel interrupted. "I'm sorry dad, I need Finn. I need someone to protect me and keep me safe. I won't be able to defend myself against terrorists so thankyou…for looking out for me."

Hiram was lost for words. For the first time in ages, Rachel had actually agreed to a word he said. Normally, Rachel's confidence in herself and her opinion would overpower him but today, he was glad that she chose to listen. Hiram could finally sleep at night.

After saying good night, Rachel hung up and laid back in her bed. Rachel kept her eyes open, Kurt was in the shower humming a nice tune and all she could do was look up at the ceiling and sing along.

A couple of metres from Rachel's apartment, Finn laid awake in bed. He was also thinking about Rachel and what actually happened. Everything escalated so quickly. If he hadn't been vigilant and observant, who knows what would've happened to Rachel. He pushed the thought out of his mind and focussed on the nice walk over the reservoir and with that in mind, Finn sat back and relaxed.

* * *

"So tell me about yourself Finn. I hardly know anything about you." Rachel said as she leaned forward to sip her juice. It was a nice, warm Saturday on the next day. Rachel had invited Finn over to Central park. She had gotten up extra early just to make herself look nicer for Finn, she wanted to impress him. Rachel enjoyed the train ride to Central Park, probably because everyone thought they were a couple which made Rachel happy. They finally found a nice café next to a lake and decided to eat lunch together.

Finn leaned back and smiled a toothy grin. He crossed his arms and laughed.

"Where do I start?"

"Family first."

"Okay, I'm an only child. My mum's name is Carol Hudson and my dad's was Christopher. I grew up in Lima, Ohio and was raised mostly by my mum. My dad served in the US marine in the Middle East but died of a drug overdose when I was an infant."

"Is that why you joined the army?"

"Yeah, I joined it for my dad. I wanted to learn how to be a good man and joining the army has helped me strive to measure up to _his_ example of being a man."

Rachel nodded and thought of another question. Finn bit into his sandwich and waited patiently, every time he looked at Rachel, Finn couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, hard question. Do you have any hidden talents that I should know about?"

Finn drummed his fingers together and replied.

"I'm a killer on the drums-" Finn started.

"ooh interesting." Rachel teased.

"-And I was in my school's glee club when I was in high school."

Rachel dropped her mouth and laughed.

"No way you were in the glee club. You look like a jock. You can sing?" Rachel blurted out her reply and stared at Finn.

"Yeah I was the quarterback but then I found out music was my passion and went along with it and yes…I can sing." Finn said with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"I was in the glee club as well. We should totally sing a duet together. NYADA is holding a small concert at a bar, you should come with me."

Finn agreed and the two continued chatting and laughing some more. Rachel and Finn shared childhood photos, stories and memories and the both of them could feel a bond strengthening between them.

"Favourite movies and shows?" Finn asked and Rachel prepped herself.

"Almost famous and Grey's anatomy."

"Grey's anatomy?" Finn mocked and grinned in a joking manner.

"Okay, blood and gore aside, the drama is pretty intense and the doctors…" Rachel pretended to fan herself.

Rachel and Finn enjoyed each other's company for the whole day. Even though the physical attraction was evident, Finn had to regretfully remind himself that he couldn't be anything more than Rachel's bodyguard. He had to keep it professional; Hiram relied on him to keep his daughter safe and being in a relationship with Rachel –even though it pained him to say- was not an option. He knew that the one day in the near future, his job and mission would come to an end and one of these days Finn would have to travel back to Ohio and be someone else's bodyguard, or even travel to the Middle East like his father and serve America. Finn tried to not think that far but the looming possibility would forever follow him around like a shadow for the whole mission.

Rachel ran ahead and paid for a small boat. Enjoying each other's company, Finn and Rachel paddled around the lake for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

Hiram placed the phone on the bedside table and exhaled deeply. He cupped his mouth with his hands and shook his head with relief. LeRoy entered the room and sat next to his husband.

"Was that Rachel? Tell me it's good news."

Hiram looked at LeRoy with happiness dancing around his eyes.

"Yes, it's good news. She has agreed to have a bodyguard." Hiram said and LeRoy leaned back and smiled.

"Thank the lord."

"How's Central Intelligence?" Hiram enquired.

"It's not going so well, we haven't been able to locate the Al-Qaeda gang. We have five possible locations but it's not enough. We don't have clues, facts or hard evidence pointing to where they could be. Whoever trained them, did a fucking great job of it. They are closing in on Rachel but they are invisible, we don't know where they are."

"We can be certain of one thing."

"What?"

"With Finn, Rachel finally has a chance to defend herself."

* * *

The weekends came flying past and spending it with her new bodyguard quickened time. It was Monday, boring tedious Monday. Cassandra wanted to swap acting classes for dance classes today and Rachel dreaded the change. If only Finn can turn Cassandra into a pretzel like the two men at the party then her life at NYADA would be superb.

Rachel got out of bed, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and performed all her daily rituals before meeting Kurt in the kitchen. This time Finn was also waiting for her. He sat with his back towards her on the benchtop and drank Kurt's green juice. Finn turned around when footsteps began echoing around the apartment and slipped off.

"Ready to go?"

Rachel smiled a toothy grin, grabbed her cardigan and followed Finn and Kurt out of the apartment.

The trio walked towards NYADA and parted to their different classes. Kurt went to singing and Rachel to dancing.

Finn sat at the bench in front of the dance studio and began his waiting.

"See you in two hours."

Finn nodded and leaned back against the bench.

"I'll be here…waiting."

Rachel ducked into studio and saw Cassandra was already waiting.

"Look who decided to show." Cassandra mocked with her hands at her hips.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Looks like you've got yourself some eye candy there." Cassandra stared out the door and locked eyes with Finn. Rachel kept quiet and tried to lessen the redness forming on her cheeks.

Cassandra's head whipped back into the studio and clapped.

"Alright, leaps. Five-six-seven-eight."

Finn sat outside. He could finally understand Rachel's point. Cassandra was turning out to be a bit of a bitch, but Finn guessed she was only acting this way to push all of her students. This was NYADA, only the best of the best could be accepted. He watched Rachel perform her leaps through the open door and was impressed, who knew such a tiny body could leap tremendously high. Finn played with his jacket and looked around the room. Everything looked so prestigious, even the wallpaper and floorboards!

Finn remembered his old high school, it wasn't much but he liked it. Apart from being the quarterback and lead singer of a show choir, high school was actually quite bland. Students didn't talk to other students and Finn kept to himself. After hearing about Rachel's childhood, Finn conjured an alternate reality where he studied at school with Rachel and performed in show choir competitions. Finn thought about the dramas that could've happen such as dating the head cheerleader then realising that Rachel was the one for him. But there was one point where Finn stopped and shook his head.

"Stop it, that never happened and stop day dreaming." Finn told himself, "This is what happens when you're bored."

Finn stopped day dreaming, got up and bought a coke from a vending machine. The students had started jazz and Finn became intrigued.

Inside the studio, Cassandra pushed her students hard. Rachel sweated buckets and panted like an overheated dog. As she danced, Rachel kept looking out of the door towards Finn, sometimes they locked eyes and smiled at each other which made Rachel forget what she was doing. After several mishaps, stumbles and accidental bumping, Cassandra angrily marched over to the boom box and turned it off.

"Rachel Berry, who on earth is that?" Cassandra asked and pointed at Finn. The upper half of her body leaned towards Rachel in an angry manner and stared daggers into her eyes.

"That's Finn Hudson, my bodyguard." Rachel swallowed. 'Please don't kick me out. Please don't kick me out.' Rachel prayed and stared back at Cassandra cautiously.

"He is a distraction to you and in my class: having concentration and focus are imperative. Walk over and shut the door."

Rachel had her arms hung loosely by her side, she walked over to the door, mouthed 'I'm sorry' to Finn and slammed the door shut. The music started and Rachel began dancing again.

Finn waved his hands to say 'don't worry about it' as Rachel slammed the door and brought out his phone. He searched his contacts for the letter D and finally called Dewey. He hadn't seen him this morning and wondered where he could be. It wasn't like Dewey to go out to a party and stay over at a girl's house, so where on earth was he? The call was sent through to voicemail and Finn spoke after the tone.

"Andreas, where are you? I left you like a dozen messages. Get back to me as soon as you can."

* * *

Dewey got up at three am, met his team downstairs and travelled in a black van towards location one.

"Equip yourself, stay undetected and if things go awry, never leave a man behind."

Pulling black infrared goggles over his face, Dewey descended from the van and into the warehouse. They broke up into two teams, half upstairs and the rest downstairs. With guns held in front of their faces and colts hidden behind their backs for back up, the team scouted the location.

Dewey's phone shone a red colour.

"Hiram."

"Andreas, state your position."

"I'm at location one, half of my team have been dispatched to scout the upstairs area of the warehouse. So far, no sign of the Talisman."

After several hours of thorough and detailed searches, Dewey and his team found no signs of the Talisman instead much to their surprise, a group of crack heads were found within the perimeter. Dewey checked off his logbook.

'Location One: nothing.'

* * *

The class had finished and Rachel marched out of class eagerly. She wanted to see Finn and further the distance between her and Cassandra.

"She is one hell of a teacher." Finn spoke as the two walked towards the apartment.

"I told you, she hates me…personally. She practically forced me to shut the door in your face."

"Perhaps she just 'dislikes' your confidence and ability to handle anything she throws at you."

"You're pretty intuitive."

"I'm intuitive am i?"

"Yes and smart and fit as hell."

"Anything else?"

"Okay, now you're just fishing for compliments."

Rachel and Finn laughed and joked the whole way until they arrived at the apartment.

Finn brought Rachel to his apartment and was surprised to see Dewey coming out of the shower with wet hair dripping onto his blue tshirt.

"Where have you been?"

"Just came back from a party. Pretty hectic."  
"You don't go to parties…"

"It's New York, Hudson, time to shake things up." Dewey shrugged and extended a hand towards Rachel.

"Rachel, this is Dewey. Dewey, Rachel." Finn introduced and the two shook hands.

Finn looked at the way Dewey carried himself, the way he politely and instinctively extended a hand towards Rachel. Things didn't add up, his mate couldn't have had a one night stand, he was too work-minded to do that.

"Anyway, I have to drop Rachel home. Take care of yourself okay?" Finn left the apartment with Rachel and walked towards her apartment.

"Seems like a nice guy."

"That's Dewey for you."

Finn took Rachel towards her front door and stopped.

"You know you can sleep over here right? We have two extra guestrooms. I'm pretty sure Kurt won't mind, I think he really likes you." Rachel informed and looked into Finn's brown, amber eyes.

"Sounds like a plan."

Then without control, Rachel leaned in a kissed Finn on his cheek. Finn turned red and Rachel gritted her teeth.

"See you tomorrow."

Finn was lost for words as Rachel walked behind the door. The kiss lingered on his face for a minute longer before it dissolved warmly into his skin. His feelings for Rachel Berry were real and he knew it was only a matter of time when these feelings would take over his body. He liked Rachel Berry. _Really_ liked her.

* * *

Thanks for waiting for chapter four! For those who don't really understand why I chose Dewey, I think I just wanted Finchel to be the focus and the only characters from Glee. Since this is alternate universe, I wanted Finn and Rachel to have their own backstories different to 'Glee'. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Thankyou so much for the reviews, it means a lot!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** Hey guys I'm back! First, I just want to say how grateful I am for you guys! Thanks for still sticking around even though I haven't written in ages. Stuff's been happening in my personal life but I think I got through it. So let's continue this story once again…enjoy!

 **Chapter Five**

 _Fort Benning, Georgia_

September 2009

His heart pounded violently against his chest. His feet ached with every step. His breathing: laboured and heavy. The pain overwhelmed his body to exhaustion but Finn Hudson enjoyed every single moment.

He knew from the first time he stepped off the bus, he was home. He could see, feel and almost taste the finishing line. Finn spotted the Sergeant at the end with his legs far apart and arms crossed. It was Finn's first day in the army but he knew he was going to last. He had determination. It was like a fire in him. Finn's father was in the army when he was only a baby and following in his footsteps had always been his dream. Which was why leaving his mother behind in Ohio was excruciatingly painful.

With a final burst of speed, Finn ran straight past the end line and doubled over to catch his breath. The sergeant walked over and slapped him across the back in admiration. He said no words but Finn knew he had already made a good impression. Standing up, Finn saw a brown haired man finish the course minutes after him.

"Dude! You're like a machine! How did you make it through that obstacle course without puking?" The man shook hands with Finn with a broad smile across his white teeth. Finn studied the man: he was in his early twenties and maybe even a country boy. Finn returned the handshake and returned to his bunker.

Later that night, four larger males entered Finn's room. They pulled him onto the ground and pinned him down. Finn knew this was bound to happen. Even in the army, there will always be…'bullies.'

"You think you're top shit Hudson!" The largest male stood over him. "Tryna be the sergeant's favourite. Well let me tell you something." The thug leaned forward and whispered in Finn's ear, "No matter what you do, you will _never_ be able to change your father's status to an honourable one. _Never."_

Finn escaped from their grasp and right hooked the man. His other three attackers punched his stomach and continued pummelling him on the floor.

"You're worthless Hudson. Just another poor loser from Ohi-"

The man was thrown sideways. His head collided with the wooden drawer and knocked him out cold.

"Leave him alone you fuckers."

Finn sat up and closed his eyes. He room spun violently. He cradled his stomach and dabbed the cut above his eyebrow. Finn looked up and saw the brown haired man.

"Looks brutal." The man said pointing to the open cut on Finn's forehead. Finn anchored his weight on the bed as he stood up.

"Thanks, for uh- doing that." Finn looked over to see his attacker out cold.

"No worries. Since his passed out, do you want to draw a dick on his head?"

The two laughed.

"Finn Hudson." Finn shook the brown haired man's hand for the second, "I'm from Lima, Ohio."

"The name's Dewey Andreas. I'm from Des Moines, Iowa."

From that day, no matter what shit people threw at him, Finn was never going to let them get to him. He joined the army to serve his country and clear his father's name and he made it his life's goal to not fail his promise.

* * *

Present day

Finn grabbed a jam croissant on the way to NYADA. It wasn't like him to blush after being kissed. There was something about Rachel Berry. It wasn't his first time being a bodyguard. Finn had been security for many female celebrities and hooked up with at least half…but Rachel Berry was a completely different story. She made him feel something that he hadn't felt in years.

Desire.

Finn knew he couldn't follow his heart. He had a job to do and that was to protect Rachel Berry until Hiram catches the Talisman. Then…he can go back to Ohio and live his life once again. He was younger and stupid but now he knew that he needed to be professional. No more hooking up with women. Hiram placed his trust in him and so he will honour that.

Brushing a hand across his hair, Finn walked up the stairs and sat in his usual spot opposite Rachel's dance studio. The door opened and Rachel walked out.

"I take it you had a very joyous afternoon with Cassandra."

"Very funny Finn." Rachel took the croissant and ate two big mouthfuls. The two walked out of NYADA and walked together slowly: both feeling too awkward to speak.

"So, do you remember when I told you NYADA was holding a concert at a bar? Well it's tonight."

"…Okay."

"So, how about it Finn? Care to join me?"

Later that night, Finn wore a light blue collared shirt and accompanied Rachel to the bar. The venue was filled with many students, music surrounded Finn and the smell of alcohol wafted into his senses. Rachel bounded ahead of him and found a table for the two of them; she waved at Kurt who was busily challenging someone to a diva-off.

Some of Rachel's friends walked towards the two of them and took her away for a dance session. Finn saw Rachel turn back to see him but he smiled understandingly. He was just a bodyguard, if Rachel wanted to dance with her friends then he won't be the anchor dragging her away from a fun night.

Rachel laughed her friends. Elise and Penelope held her hands and swayed backwards and forwards. She hadn't laughed like this in ages. It was nice to have some good friends. Rachel's high school career wasn't a particularly special one, she was not popular but she wasn't a complete nerd. Rachel needed a good night out, her last party was eventful to say the least but thankfully she had Finn. Guilt flooded her stomach as she saw Finn sitting by himself in the corner. He was observing the party and texting someone on his phone. She felt horrible. Rachel invited him to this NYADA hangout and she practically ditched him for her friends.

Brody came by holding margaritas and looked at Rachel.

"Who's that?"

"That's Mr Hudson. Isn't he cute?" Penelope flirted and bit her lip.

"I heard that he was your bodyguard." Elise continued.

"Yes. That is Finn. Guys, do you mind if we invite him over? I don't know… I kinda asked him to come."

The girls and Brody agreed so Rachel walked towards Finn and held his hands.

"Do you wanna come join us on the dance floor?"

Finn smiled by leaned back into his chair.

"It's okay Rachel. Go have fun. I just have to scope this place out. I am your bodyguard after all."

Rachel felt disheartened. After hearing what Finn had said, Rachel knew she wasn't going to get a yes from him. She walked back towards her friends and continued dancing.

Finn looked around. He didn't exactly like parties but wherever Rachel went, he had to follow. His phone vibrated every minute with a new text from Hiram but this time it was a call. Finn walked out to the courtyard to answer.

"Finn Hudson speaking."

"Mr Hudson, It's Hiram. We've received another threat. The Talisman…they sent me a photo of the two of you walking from NYADA. Finn, I urge you to be extra vigilant, please. Protect my baby girl. Whatever happens, use extreme forces and do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

Finn frowned, he could feel Hiram's anxiety and tension dripping with every word. He looked back at Rachel through the glass window. She was laughing, drinking and dancing. He had to protect her. Rachel had so much innocence and he knew she was in danger. That was it. Finn needed to bring his A-game. No more of this sappy crush business. Finn was the best of the best and he wasn't going to let anything happen to Rachel.

"Mr Berry, I promise you that I will do everything I can to keep Rachel alive and safe. You can count on that."

The call ended and Finn sighed heavily. The wind brushed against his face, leaving his cheeks pink and flushed. Finn touched the back of his jeans and felt the solid metal of his Glock .46. He walked back inside the club and continued to be on high alert. Rachel was still partying so Finn sat down and waited.

A few hours and margaritas later, Rachel wanted to go home. She was quite drunk and had trouble walking. Her friends were also quite intoxicated but their spirits remained high. Finn gripped Rachel's arm and hoisted her up.

"I think we had too many margaritas." Rachel giggled and grabbed hold of Finn's firm bicep. Hailing a cab was easy but holding onto Rachel Berry was a whole different story.

Finn placed Rachel gently in the backseat. She slid against the leather and continued to push her face into the crook of Finn's warm neck.

"47 Lorna Avenue." Finn told the driver.

Rachel started to run her hand across Finn's cheek and chin. She traced his jawline and chest and finally rested her tired head on his shoulder.

"You are really handsome."

Finn choked and laughed nervously.

"Miss Berry, I think you should just rest for now. You'll be home in ten minutes."

"Finn. I'm sorry for leaving you tonight." Rachel said as she twisted and turned drunkenly against his torso. "I hope we can hang out again."

"Rachel, I'll go wherever you want to go. But for know, just relax."

"I love you Finn Hudson." Rachel giggled.

Feeling brave and promiscuous, Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn's neck and turned her mouth towards his. She started kissing him. Finn tasted so good. She couldn't stop. Rachel made her way down his neck and smiled when she felt Finn tighten his hold on her waist.

Finn's brain clocked out. He was completely dumbfounded. Her warm hands closed around his face. He didn't know what to do. Finn couldn't stop, he couldn't bring himself away from Rachel Berry. His head screamed no but his lower half pulsed and throbbed with each kiss.

The taxi driver rolled his eyes. Perfect…just another pair of horny young adults making love in his backseat.

Finn carried Rachel to her room and settled her down on the bed. She gripped his belt and pulled him towards her.

"Finn." She moaned. Finn couldn't resist her anymore and gently laid on top of Rachel. The two kissed, both eliciting small groans from each other's lips. Finn hovered over Rachel, she clasped her hands together over his head and ran her hands through his hair. Finn was no longer in control of his mind. Rachel sucked on his bottom lip and neck. She continued doing that until Rachel felt naughty and started trailing her hands down Finn's frame towards his leg. She undid the belt and started to pull. The moment Rachel's tongue found it's way into his mouth, Finn felt himself become hard immediately. It was that moment Finn remembered who he was to Rachel. He wasn't her boyfriend or husband. He was her fucking bodyguard.

Finn pulled away and clipped his belt back on again. He rubbed his face with his hands and tried to calm his emotions, desire and hormones down. He felt a tight pulse in his lower half and gritted his teeth. Finn fought hard to resist but he knew he needed to. If Hiram found out, Finn would not be able to see the light of day again.

"Finn?"

"I'm sorry Rachel. Have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow."

Rachel was too tired to argue. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Finn lifted the cover and wrapped Rachel. He walked out of her apartment and towards his own. He saw Kurt walking home and waved a hello to him, thankfully he didn't notice the hickeys forming on Finn's neck.

He needed to be professional. He needed to keep Rachel safe. Whatever happened, he needed to put her first and his feelings for her last. Finn wrapped his arms around himself from the chilly air and tried to block to the memories from earlier.

'Finn you're a fucking idiot. Why did you kiss her you dipstick?' He thought to himself and continued trudging towards his apartment.

"Andreas? You home?" Finn placed his keys in the glass bowl and walked through the apartment. He peered through the window and looked at Rachel's apartment across from his.

"Dewey?"

Where in the world was his mate? Has New York really messed Dewey's mind. Finn decided to give Dewey the benefit of the doubt. He was a smart kid. If Dewey really was mingling with all the single women then so be it. Finn scoffed and walked to bed. It was a long day and tomorrow would be the same.

* * *

"Okay. Night vision goggles on. Ready when you are."

Dewey's team stealthily ran around the compound.

"We're in position."

Dewey nodded and radioed his team.

"3-2-1. Go."

His tactical team and himself stormed the warehouse with guns out in front. The warehouse was laced with cobwebs and mouldy equipment. No one has been here in ages. Dewey ran upstairs to scour the upper level.

"Andreas. Mission Report."

"It's clear Hiram. No sign of the Talisman. No sign of human activity."

Dewey crossed location two in his logbook off and made his way downstairs. As he made his way out of the warehouse, Dewey never noticed one member of his team break away.

"It's James. I have new intel on Rachel Berry Mr Udfar. The leader of our team is Dewey Andreas, his best friend is Finn Hudson and he is Rachel Berry's bodyguard. I also have details on the next location."

"Good. Make sure Andreas and your team goes there. Once we are through with them. Finding Rachel Berry will be an easier task."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

Rachel was woken up by a knock on the door. Her head throbbed slightly and she was still dressed in her clothes from the night before. Kurt slipped in and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Rachel Berry!" Kurt marvelled at the dishevelled state his friend was in. Rachel's dress had ridden up her leg, her bra strap at full display on her shoulders, the quilt laid askew across her body and Rachel's make up smudged across her face. "Jeez, how many drinks did _you_ have last night?"

Rachel propped herself up on her elbows and sighed. "Too many." She reached over to her bedside table: popped an aspirin tablet and quenched her thirst with water. She suddenly thought about Finn, she remembered his gentleness…how he patiently waited for her while she danced with her friends…how soft his hands were as they ran up and down her frame…

Rachel choked.

Did she have sex with Finn?

Finn was a decent guy…no…Finn was an extraordinary guy and Rachel couldn't care less whether she had sex with Finn. She looked up at Kurt who grimaced at her state.

"Don't judge me Kurt." Rachel pointed her finger at Kurt who brought up two hands and backed away.

Rachel reluctantly stood up and walked to the bathroom, she finally took a nice warm shower, cleaned herself up and changed into new clothes. She was about to make breakfast when a knock on the door caught Rachel's attention. Kurt looked through the eyehole and looked back at Rachel.

"It's your bodyguard." He mouthed and slid the door open. Finn stood awkwardly in the doorway holding breakfast in a brown bag from the local café. He avoided eye contact with Rachel and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Kurt lifted his eyebrows and walked over to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Finn walked in and after a moment of hesitation, he made his way towards Rachel.

"Rachel." Finn said and finally mustered up the courage to look in her eye. Rachel stared at Finn's brown eyes and noticed he had a fairly large hickey on the base of his neck near his collarbone.

"I messed up Rachel. I was meant to be your bodyguard, I was meant to put you and your interests first. I'm so sorry Rachel."

Rachel grabbed his two hands and clasped them against her own.

"No, I was drunk and irresponsible. I don't want you to pay the price for my stupidity. Trust me it's fine and was uh-quite fun."

Rachel smiled infectiously and Finn grinned.

"Okay." Finn nodded and stared at his shoes. Kurt walked into the dining room holding three plates full of pancakes and balancing a carton of orange juice in his left arm. Rachel led Finn towards the table where they all sat around in silence. Kurt grabbed his plate and immersed himself into a copy of VOGUE. Rachel took a quick glance at Finn and caught him picking pieces of his store bought muffin: too shy to eat. Feeling bold, Rachel took away the muffin and pushed a plate of pancakes towards Finn.

"Look, you're part of the Rachel Berry family now. Have some pancakes." Rachel smiled and poured maple syrup on Finn's pancakes. Finn laughed and drank his cup of orange juice. He really enjoyed Rachel's company. She was able to make an awkward situation not so awkward. To be honest, Finn wasn't sure whether Rachel would still want to be around him after last night. She was drunk and Finn was so close to taking advantage of her. Thank god for his self control.

After the trio finished their breakfast, Rachel and Finn sat on the couch watching re-runs of Gossip Girl.

"Wait, so who does Blake Lively play again?" Finn asked.

"Serena van der Woodsen."

"Okay…who's he?" Finn pointed at the screen.

"He's Chuck."

"Is that Ezra Fitz?"

"No, you're thinking about Pretty Little Liars."

Finn turned his head to the side.

"I don't understand."

Rachel sighed and paused the show.

"I'm guessing you don't like chick flicks."

"Yeah, I've never understood them. Like…how many times can a person break up with the same person?"

"Then what do you like Finn Hudson?" Rachel rested her head on her palm and turned towards Finn. He pouted and mimicked her gesture.

"Action, thriller and western movies. When I was in high school, my room was in the attic and I had this rustic cowboy wallpaper plastered across my walls. Even when I graduated, I could never bring myself to take the posters and wallpaper down. I knew my younger self would probably kill me if I did. That's a little of my childhood for you." Finn chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, when I was in a high schoo-"

A loud ringtone cut through the apartment. Rachel reached over to her phone and looked at the caller.

"It's my dad."

Finn gulped a nervous ball of saliva and sat up straight.

"Hi daddy…yeah Finn is with me…Is it serious?...oh my god."

Finn frowned, Rachel broke away from the call and pressed the speaker.

"We have received yet another photo from the Talisman and I want to personally meet the two of you to discuss urgent matters. I have organised a private jet to pick the two of you up, be ready in twenty minutes."

The call ended and Finn and Rachel sat in complete silence.

"I can't believe this is happening."

"Rachel, I promise I will keep you safe. The Talisman are never going to place their dirty hands on you okay." Finn touched Rachel's shoulders, she quietly sniffed and fought hard to hide her tears. "Everything will be fine." The two hugged and stayed in each other's embrace for a long while.

* * *

Finn shifted against the chestnut coloured leather seats. He stared out the window and gazed at the clouds passing by. They were heading from New York to Virginia to rendezvous with Hiram in Langley – the CIA headquarters. Rachel had fallen asleep on the large chairs a little while after reading a novel. Finn couldn't rest, he was under a load of stress. It might not seem like it on the outside but Finn was feeling contradictory. He liked Rachel and couldn't bear to see her lose sleep over the Talisman and lose sleep over this whole terrorist ordeal. He was meant to be a bodyguard, be professional and be focussed on the task at hand. The only thing he had done was hook up with Rachel Berry. If Hiram found out…Finn would be a dead man.

Rachel stirred in her sleep and pulled the covers closer to her body. Finn looked at his phone and saw that Dewey had not replied to any of his messages. What has happened to Dewey? Two months ago they were inseparable, now he was always out partying and ignoring Finn. Finn knew a country boy like Dewey has probably found New York mesmerising and has put it upon himself to explore every nook and cranny…but it wasn't like his best mate at all. Whatever Dewey was doing, Finn had a gut feeling it wasn't partying…he just couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Rachel woke and quickly wiped the drool glistening down the corner of her mouth before Finn noticed.

"Are we nearly there?"

"Yeah, half an hour to go." Finn said and reclined his seat back. He felt a bulge in his seat pocket and pulled out a deck of cards.

"Wanna play?" Finn shuffled the cards and the duo spent the rest of the flight focussed on the card game.

* * *

"Rachel." Hiram walked towards Rachel with arms outstretched, he embraced his daughter and squeezed her tight. Finn stood a few steps back observing the unconventional father and daughter relationship.

"Mr Hudson. Hiram acknowledged Finn and shook his hands. "Nice to see you once again." The director of the CIA turned around and led Rachel and Finn across the CIA headquarters towards a room. The heel of his black leather shoes clicked against the professionally polished floor and Finn could almost hear the swipe of Hiram's pants as they brushed against each other. Finn was amazed. He had only heard rumours about the place, he saw men and women rushing past him holding folders with serious looks on their faces. Finn stood out like a sore thumb. In order to hide the hickey he had received from Rachel, Finn wore a white t-shirt and had thrown a maroon jacket on top. Thankfully, the hoodie was able to cover his neck completely.

Hiram opened the door to a conference room where three agents stood waiting.

"Finn, Rachel, these are my top three CIA agents: Max, Palmer and Jackson. I have recruited them to be the 'extra eyes' just for additional protection."

"Dad, what's going on? Have they found us?"

Hiram took a deep breath.

"It appears…the Talisman are closing in on your location. They were tipped off by an unknown source and now the leader, Mr Udfar knows about Finn and where you live: New York."

Hiram pressed a button and a black and white photo of Finn and Rachel emerged on the screen. Rachel was in her black dance costume and Finn was beside her. In the background, NYADA stood tall and proud. Rachel's heart sank.

"So what does that mean now Director?" Finn asked and walked closer to Rachel.

"It means that you will no longer be living in New York, Rachel will no longer study in NYADA and anyone she knows will be under witness protection until the Talisman are contained and imprisoned."

The news came as a blow to Rachel.

"What? Dad, NYADA is my life. I can't just quit. I have worked so hard to be accepted into NYADA and you're telling me that will all be for nothing. How long until can you find the Talisman?"

"It's hard to pinpoint an exact time but we have our very best tactical team on it."

"You just said you have recruited the three best agents, can't they just come to New York. I have Finn, he can protect me. He's protected me before."

The three agents scoffed and chuckled.

Hiram, Rachel and Finn turned around.

"Anything you would like to add Mr Jackson."

"Mr Berry, you have known me for seven years. You know how accurate my intuition is." The CIA agent walked forward arrogantly. "Finn seems like a good man. Fit. Tall. Good Physique." Jackson eyed Finn up and down. "But he isn't a trained agent. He doesn't know how to deal with terrorists especially when it comes to strategy. He's in the army for Christ sakes, they can only do two hundred push ups and carry a loaded weapon."

Rachel felt anger rise in her.

"Considered, but Mr Hudson has not made any mistakes. My daughter is still safe and well so I believe he is doing his job well. I understand your concerns Mr Jackson but for now Finn can handle the situation regarding my daughter."

Finn stared at Rachel who smiled at him for reassurance.

"Don't listen to the fucker." Rachel mouthed and Finn chuckled to himself at her sudden profanity.

"Okay, you have six hours to pack anything you want to take from New York and I'll have my private jet pick you two up by the end of the day."

Max, Palmer and Jackson walked out of the room leaving Finn, Rachel and Hiram behind.

"I'm only doing what's best for you Rachel." Hiram leaned against the rectangular desk and folded his arms.

"Yeah, I know."

Finn continued looking at the photo, he felt his spine tingle. It was haunting. They were being spied on and Finn was oblivious to it. Rachel was so innocent, she didn't deserve to be in this situation. Hiram had stopped the Talisman's shipment of weapons and Rachel was paying the price. No. Rachel did not deserve this at all.

* * *

"Don't listen to what that Jackson said okay. You're better than they are." Rachel rested her hand on Finn's. The two sat in the cafeteria after the meeting and bought lunch.

"I won't."

"Good. I would choose my bodyguard over that jerk any day."

Finn chuckled.

Rachel caught a whiff of coffee and quickly ran over to a café to buy herself a latte. Finn sat by himself for a while contemplating on the new intel. They had six hours to pack before Hiram would bring them to a secure location in Virginia. Kurt would have to come too because of his close relationship to Rachel and Dewey…Dewey would probably be transported back to the army base.

Finn grabbed his cup of coffee and was about to take a sip when he felt two hands shove him forward. A hot burning sensation ripped through his legs and Finn realised he had spilt his drink. He turned around and saw Jackson, Palmer and Max.

"Hey Hudson. Interesting meeting wasn't it?"

"What do you want?"

"You see-" Jackson grabbed a chair and rested his arms on top. "-I don't trust soldiers especially the son of a dishonourably discharged man. What was it? Alcohol? Drugs? I did a little digging on you Finn."

"Don't talk about my father and what's it to you anyway? I'm keeping Rachel safe."

"You don't get it Hudson. I like Rachel Berry. I think she's hot and Hiram likes me enough to give me his blessing if Rachel and I were to date. I can do a _much_ better job at protecting her. I have my connections. I'm the highest paid agent in the whole fucking CIA. I've solved twelve cases by the time I was twenty six and President Barack fucking Obama shook my goddam hand. What have you done? Cried after a shout from the Sergeant? Jerked-off in a fucking cubicle at Fort Benning? You are nothing Finn."

"Yeah well, Hiram chose me and not you to be Rachel's bodyguard. Obviously he just prefers my skills to yours Jackson. If I were you, I would back off: people are starting to stare and I don't want to ruin your petty reputation."

Jackson stared daggers at Finn.

"Have fun pretty boy, it'll end soon." He tapped Finn's face harshly and walked away.

'There will always be one.' Finn thought and shook his head.

* * *

Finn and Rachel were flown back to New York for the final time. Hiram gave them six hours to pack and after the two hour plane trip, the two had four hours left in the Big Apple. Rachel and Finn parted ways for a few minutes to pack their belongings in their apartments. Rachel wondered how she was going to tell Kurt.

 _Half an Hour later_

"Should I bring this?" Rachel held up a novel at Kurt

"Sure why not?"

Rachel shoved the book into her bag and scoured around in her wardrobe.

"I can't believe I'm going into witness protection." Kurt said as he heaved a large Gucci luggage from his closet. "Rachel, I swear being friends with you is a curse...Oh look! My vogue magazines, I wonder if vogue can still mail my monthly magazines to Langley."

"Probably not. It is a secret location."

Rachel stopped packing.

"Kurt, what do you think about Finn?"

"I think he's extremely handsom-"

"I'm being serious. I know he's my bodyguard but I'm…developing feelings for him: strong feelings too."

Kurt sat down.

"Normally, I would encourage you to jump into those firm muscular arms and date that gorgeous man but…Rachel, you are in a life or death situation. Terrorists are involved and I think in this situation emotions are dangerous and Finn really needs to focus on protecting you. Feelings can't interfere this time."

* * *

Finn crossed the road towards his apartment to pack. He didn't want to leave Rachel for a prolonged amount of time so he knew he needed to pack fast. Finn opened the door to his apartment and…of course no Dewey. Shrugging his best friend's absence away, Finn quickly grabbed his clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste and electronics and packed them into his bag.

Dewey had finally arrived from a private briefing. He had faith in his team; he knew it was only in a matter of days until they would find the Talisman. He liked the newbie though, James was different: confident, bold, smart. That man was born to be a field agent. Dewey wanted to go back to the apartment for a quick break before heading out again to the third location. He unlocked the door and saw Finn zipping his suitcase.

"Where are you going?"

"Didn't you hear? Rachel, Kurt and I are going into witness protection in Virginia."

"I did not know that. When did this happen?"

"Today….Where were you?"

Finn and Dewey stood a fair distance apart: awkwardness radiating from the two men.

"Just out. My friend Sasha she uh- invited me to this huge party-"

"What a party at four p.m?" Finn crossed his arms.

"You don't believe me?"

Dewey slid his hair back.

"I know you're holding back a monologue Finn just say it."

"Dewey, I know you haven't been going off to parties. It's not you. Come on man, I'm drowning here; you've got to help me out. I'm your best mate, you can come talk to me, you don't have to hide anything from me."

"Can't you just accept that maybe I've changed. I've moved on. Old Dewey was boring." Dewey hurt inside. He wanted to tell Finn desperately. He hated lying to his best friend but orders were orders. Hiram didn't want Finn finding out about the mission and so Dewey would not utter a word. He needed to get Finn off his back, he was getting dangerously close to finding out Dewey's secret.

Dewey had to say the unthinkable.

"You're holding me back Finn. New York has changed me and there's nothing you can say that will change that. The women, the booze, the partying…that's my life now. I can see that you're not happy with that so…just walk away Finn. I'm fine on my own. I don't need you."

Finn sighed heavily, "Fine, if that's what you want."

Finn closed his eyes, he lifted the handle of his suitcase and wheeled it past Dewey. He didn't say anything, he didn't look at Dewey, he didn't say goodbye. Finn just walked past. His friend had been changed, he didn't know what brought it on but he knew in that very moment…he had lost his best mate.

The moment the door closed Dewey hunched over the table and balled his fist. 'Finn will understand one day.' Dewey told himself but wished that day would come sooner. Ten years to build a partnership, ten seconds to break one.

Dewey picked up his walkie-talkie: "Team get ready. We're heading out in five."

* * *

Rachel noticed Finn's quiet state once they were on the jet. Kurt was busy helping himself to the grilled salmon on his food tray to notice the two.

"I ran into Dewey."

"And…"

"It wasn't good. We both said some stuff and things just escalated."

"Don't worry, Kurt's my best friend and we have had numerous amounts of fights and bickering. You and Dewey are fine. Just give it time."

Jackson rolled his at their conversation. It was going to be a long flight.

* * *

Back in New York, Dewey cut the lock with bolt cutters. He separated the team: Riccardo, Steven and James in one and Ben and himself in another. The team stealthily broke into the factory and looked around. Dewey turned his night vision goggles on and positioned his finger on the trigger. Chains hung lose from the ceiling and rusty hooks swayed lifelessly around them. Dewey reckoned they were currently in an abandoned slaughterhouse. Some weapons laid askew on benches, some pitches and carving knives were covered in dried blood.

The factory had a sickening, damp rotten smell. Dewey bent down and examined some footprints.

"What do you think boss?" Ben asked.

"Looks fresh to me. Definitely military boots judging by the patterns of these bases." Dewey touched the print and realised it was wet mud.

"It's still wet. Someone was in here not to long ago." Dewey looked up and found a trail of the same footprint. Ben and Dewey followed the trail and came across a trip wire.

"What the fuck?" Dewey lightly placed the trip wire between his two hands and followed it. The wire headed upwards. Dewey walked up the stairs where the wire twisted along and felt his mouth turn dry when he realised what was hidden upstairs. Barrel and boxes of explosives laced the factory.

"We have to get out of here. It's a tra-"

A loud boom originating from the other side of the factory shook the ground Dewey and Ben stood. Before, the two agents were able to make sense of what had happened, the explosives in front exploded: tossing Ben and Dewey back.

Dewey crashed onto the floor knocking the wind out of him completely. The whole factory was in flames. Dewey found Ben sprawled across on the floor with blood seeping through his cracked skull. He must have bashed his head against the pole behind him. He felt for a pulse…It was weak but Ben was still alive. Dewey was in pain. The explosion had burnt his neck, arms and torso and he was exposed to the black clouds of smoke.

'The Talisman.' Dewey swore and winced. 'How did they kno- There's a traitor. A fucking traitor.'

Dewey stood up and looked around. He needed to get out of here. Dewey slung Ben across his shoulders and limped out of the corner. Where was the exit? Rubble and stone laid in mass piles along the floor and the ceiling was on the verge of collapse. Dewey saw the exit and felt tremendous relief until he saw James guarding the door.

"James, what are you doing? Open the door! We need to get out of here!" Dewey coughed.

"No." James turned around and pointed a gun at Dewey.

"You work for the Talisman don't you, you sick fuck."

"Yes, you got me. I'm the traitor. I can't believe you actually trusted me. You provided me with a lot of intel. President Udfar will be proud. Oh and thanks for informing me about Finn Hudson. Udfar would absolutely be delighted to meet him and Rachel Berry."

"If you lay your filthy hands on Finn, I wil-"

"You will what? Kill me?" James chuckled, he took he safety off. "Take a good long look at my face Andreas because it will be the last face you'll see."

Panic swept through Dewey. Beads of sweat poured down his face from the heat of the flames surrounding him and the anxiety filling every part of his body. He spied a carving knife to his right and subtly moved towards it. He needed to stall.

"Why'd you do it? Why would you betray your country? Your brothers?"

James trained the gun on Dewey but looked down at his feet. A psychotic grin appeared on his face.

"I hate America. I want to see it burn to the ground but that will never happen because Hiram Fucking Berry exploited our operation!"

Dewey stood in front of the carving knife, he quietly gripped the handle in his dominant hand and looked up at James. They were only a few metres apart. It was now or never.

Without a moment to lose, Dewey swung the knife across hitting the gun out of James' hand. The glock rolled onto the floor and Dewey found his chance to tackle James. Dewey kicked the traitor aside and ran out the door never looking back. James ran towards the gun and followed Dewey. The chase was afoot. Tasting blood, Dewey powered through. Ben was becoming heavier and heavier with each step but he was not going to leave a man behind. Dewey took a wrong turn and became face to face with a twelve metre wall.

James appeared, his hands dripped with crimson blood due to a deep cut from the knife. Dewey laid Ben against the wall and stood in front. This was it. Dewey looked over at Ben, he was pale and lifeless: he had lost too much blood and Dewey would soon join him.

Dewey took one last look at James and smiled.

"You will never outsmart him. Finn will take you down."

The echoing of a gunshot rang through the night and the loud thump of a fallen body echoed through the factory. James dropped the gun on the floor and watched the pool of blood spread across the dirty concrete.

"President Udfar, it is done. Dewey Andreas is dead."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven**

Location: unknown

A black haired man stood in the cold night staring at the yellow glow emanating from a warehouse. The embers from the flame danced in the night and thick, black clouds of smoke rose into the sky. The man twisted his serrated knife in his hand and smiled. He took out a photo of a young brown haired man. The young man had freckles, which dotted his nose and thin lips curved into a smile. However, the most prominent feature was his two crystal blue eyes.

The black haired man picked up his phone: "Have you completed your mission?" He said with a thick accent.

"President Udfar, it is done. Dewey Andreas is dead."

President Udfar smiled. He loved pain. He loved torture. He looked at the photo of Dewey Andreas and chuckled. Udfar pictured blood seeping from his skull and his lifeless body sprawled on the floor. James had done well; his new recruit was proving to be 'beneficial' in his plan. One down, two more to go.

Udfar had wanted revenge on Hiram Berry ever since his nuclear weapons were intercepted by the Central Intelligence Agency. After heavy research on CIA's director, Udfar and his men found out he had a daughter: Rachel Berry. An eye for an eye.

Hiram Berry was going to pay. Udfar had spent countless months planning and tracking the shipment of weapons. Ever since the Americans killed his son, he had a burning will to destroy America and burn it to the ground. Now, his plan had changed. He was going to destroy the man who stole his life's purpose: he was going to kill Rachel Berry.

'If only it were that simple.' Udfar thought. After he received some information about Rachel's bodyguard, Udfar knew he was going to have to plan harder and smarter. Finn Hudson seemed like an intelligent man, he was well built and passed every test in the army with flying colours. Finn Hudson had survived two tours in Syria and was not only handy with an AK-47 but with a sniper. The man had talent.

Two headlights shone in his direction. Udfar's ride had come. He turned around and walked towards the car. His bodyguards accompanied his every move and opened the car door for him.

"Take us back to base."

The car turned and drove off into the unforgiving night.

* * *

Everywhere Rachel, Kurt and Finn walked several CIA agents met them.

"Good morning Miss Berry." They all said as she walked past them.

"I don't like this. All this attention is making me uncomfortable." Rachel finally said as she turned a corner to walk towards their house. Hiram Berry had found a secure location for the trio. It was a medium sized house a few miles from Langley. The CIA had secured the whole neighbourhood so federal agents were able to live and observe Rachel Berry from a close proximity. CIA agents lived in every single house surrounding Rachel's. They had equipment set up around the neighbourhood and vans parked along the streets for emergency transportation.

Finn opened the front door for Rachel and Kurt and locked it behind him. Ten agents were found gathered in the living room.

"Ms Berry this will be your sanctuary for now on. You and Mr Hummel will be sharing a room in the second floor to your right and Mr Hudson will be in the room adjacent. Fresh food will always be stocked in your kitchen, if you wish for anything else please tell one of our agents who will gladly help." The agent walked over to the windows and peered through them. "There will be nothing to fear miss, this neighbourhood and this particular house will be surrounded by the military and agents at all times under your dad's orders."

Finn walked over to the black phone situated on the table next to the couch.

"These phones…they are untraceable right?"

"Yes, Mr Hudson they are encrypted. Don't worry, we have 'Talisman-proofed' the whole compound."

Finn nodded and stood next to Rachel. The agents nodded and walked off. Only three stayed behind: Jackson, Max and Palmer.

"Don't worry Hudson, we're on first shift this week so you can go ahead and do whatever it is losers do. We've got it from here." Jackson said and placed his gun in front of him on the marble bench top.

Finn rolled with eyes. A week with Jackson and his pose was going to be interesting. He carried Rachel and Kurt's luggage up the stairs and into their rooms. It wasn't bad. There were two double beds in the blue-painted room, a flat screen TV hoisted up on the wall, a built in mirror closet and an ensuite. Hiram Berry sure chose the best for his daughter. Finn slung his suitcase over his shoulders and made his way into his room. He sat on his single bed and looked at his phone.

 _Dewey Andreas: no messages_

Finn felt deep guilt in the pit of his stomach. He shouldn't have yelled at Dewey. He was old enough to take care of himself. He shouldn't have caged him, it's New York for Christ's sake. If Dewey wanted to have fun then he should. Finn decided that Dewey needed to know that. He didn't want to leave his friend without clearing the air. Finn dialled for Dewey and listened for the ring.

"Hi this is Dewe-"

"-Hey Dewey, It's Fin-"

"I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number and message after the tone and I will be back to you as soon as I can."

Great. Straight to Voicemail.

Finn waited for the beep.

"Hey Dewey, It's Finn. I uh-just wanted to apologise for last night. It's your life, you can do whatever it is you want to do and I should be accepting of that. Please get back to me soon. I really want to back on the same page because- you know…you're my best mate."

Finn ended the call and placed his phone on the bedside table. Rachel stood in the doorway with her legs crossed and arms folded.

"Was that Dewey?"

"His voicemail."

"I'm sure he'll get back to you soon. He's probably out with Sasha or whatever."

Finn smiled and walked towards Rachel.

They met up Kurt who was busy making juice in the kitchen. Jackson and his agents were outside in the garden playing cards and smoking cigarettes. Kurt hated cigarettes, it was a dating deal-breaker for him. He hated the yellow teeth, the sickening smell and the bad breath that came as an effect of smoking. He turned to look at Jackson who balanced the cigarette between his teeth. Jackson had white teeth and didn't smell like smoke when he was in the house before. Kurt grinned: Jackson was a try-hard. He was the type of person who would try to act all cool and pretentious in front of his peers but was actually insecure about himself. Kurt could read people and Jackson was an open book.

It all made sense, the cockiness and the constant Finn-shaming was just a show. Jackson was trying to impress Palmer and Max.

'Oh Kurt, you are so smart.' He thought to himself and brought his attention back to chopping celery. Finn and Rachel walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Kurt poured them each a glass and the three of them sat together.

"How long do you reckon we'll stay here?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. Until your dad finds the Talisman I guess." Kurt replied

"And when will that be? I can't stay here. My life is in New York. I can't live under house arrest for long."

"I know this is not ideal but right now your safety is most important Rachel. It's not _that_ bad. The house looks pretty normal and thankfully we're not underground. We have a garden, a TV and exercise equipment in the garage." Finn assured.

"I agree with Finn. Hiram probably knew you would go crazy underground and arranged for something a little more 'normal' to help you settle in."

"Remember…your dad is the Director of the friggin CIA. He won't sleep until he finds the Talisman."

"Thanks Finn…and you too Kurt. I don't know what I would do without the both of you."

The back door slid open and Jackson strutted in.

"I seriously feel like I'm in a fucking soap opera. You are all so whiney and caring. It's disgusting."

"How exactly are you a federal agent Jackson?"

Jackson gave Kurt a side eye and walked upstairs to get a better view of the neighbourhood.

It was going to be along week.

* * *

Rachel didn't mind Palmer and Max. They both minded their own business and carried on with their work. They both had ear pieces in and spent many hours a day conversing with other agents through the ear pieces or across the neighbourhood. Jackson however was a different story: his cockiness infuriated Rachel, some days she wished she could shave off his dirty blonde hair in his sleep. Jackson was about the same height has Finn but he was more 'suave' and more 'secret agent-like.' Appearances aside, Jackson was an asshole and Rachel was thankful she had Finn.

Hours passed and night time had fallen. Kurt had fallen asleep on the couch after watching Grease and Finn and Rachel sat in the kitchen and talked. Palmer and Max were patrolling the neighbourhood with other agents and Jackson hadn't left his position in the attic.

There was a knock on the door and Hiram and Leroy walked in.

"Dad?" Rachel peered out of the kitchen and walked towards her fathers: giving Hiram a handshake and Leroy a hug. Max and Palmer stood behind them and closed the door. Leroy held a large plastic bag and the smell of Chinese food wafted around Finn and Rachel.

"We figured you would be hungry." Leroy said as he walked into the kitchen and laid out the meal.

"We have many things to discuss." Hiram said.

Kurt woke up and the three of them joined Hiram and Leroy at the dining table.

"Where are the other agents? Let them join too." Hiram said and gave Palmer and Max permission to join, Jackson finally came down and sat next to Rachel.

"How are you finding 'everything' so far?" Hiram leaned forward and looked at Rachel.

"I'm just trying to make the best out of this situation. But…I was wondering when I could return back to New York."

"Rachel, we've been through this-" Hiram rubbed his temple, "Until the Talisman are found. No more questions on New York, is that understood?"

Rachel nodded and Leroy reached out and held his daughter's hand.

"How's patrol?"

"Everything seems secure so far. No sign of any intrusion or the Talisman." Palmer stated.

"-And Finn…is everything okay with Rachel? No drama?"

"Yeah everything is fine sir. I'll let you know if anything changes." Rachel exchanged grins with Finn across the table, which annoyed Jackson. He took his taser, turned the dial to the lowest setting and electrocuted Finn's leg underneath the table. Finn felt the sharp spark on the side of his thigh and uncontrollably hit his knee against the table causing Hiram to look at him in confusion.

Rachel caught Jackson's smirk and knocked her glass of water onto Jackson's lap.

"Whoops! My bad!" She added and threw Jackson a serviette.

'You mess with Finn, you mess with me.' Rachel thought and winked at Finn. They were partners in crime and Rachel wasn't afraid to do what it takes to make Jackson's life a living hell.

Kurt snickered and Finn stifled a chuckle. Never mess with Rachel Berry.

A ringtone cut through the house. Palmer stood up and answered the phone: there was a moment of silence.

"Mr Berry? It's Langley. Something has happened."

Hiram wiped his mouth and hands with the serviette and excused himself from the table. He picked up the phone and answered. Hiram was dead silent, it was only a split second when Finn recognised the look of sheer terror in Hiram's eyes. Palmer stood next to Hiram with his arms crossed in front of him: even an agent like him was terrified of the conversation between Hiram and Langley.

Hiram swallowed nervously and put the phone down.

"We have received some…disturbing news. Dewey Andreas and his team are dead."

Jackson stopped drying his wet pants and looked up with a frown. Leroy sat back and hunched over with his head in his hands and Finn…Finn felt his mouth turn dry. His heart stopped beating and his hands began to shake. There must be a mistake. There needs to be a mistake. Dewey Andreas led no team…he was in some party in New York.

Rachel quickly took a glimpse at Finn. He was pale, his brows were furrowed and his eyes had a rim of tears.

"You're wrong."

Everyone sitting on the table looked at Finn Hudson.

"Excuse me?" Hiram walked forward.

"I said your wrong. Dewey Andreas isn't part of a black ops team otherwise he would've said something. He's not dead."

Hiram needed Finn to focus on protecting Rachel. He was ready to lie. His daughter came first, he could deal with a small death such as Dewey Andreas' later. Hiram needed to first track down the Talisman and only then could he worry about memorial services for his men.

"Mr Hudson. Focus on the task at hand then we can have a conversation on this issue."

"Can I see him? Can I go to the crime scene?"

"That information is classified Mr Hudson."

Hiram looked at the time and figured he should return back to the CIA headquarters. Leroy followed suit and bid a nervous goodbye to Rachel and her friends. The house remained silent.

"Finn-" Rachel rested her hand on Finn's. His hand was shaking and becoming colder with each passing second.

"I'm sorry Rachel, I need to make a phone call. Please excuse me."

Finn stood up and called all the hospitals he knew of in New York. Finn was starting to gain hope when a woman from the final hospital in Finn's list picked up.

"Sorry, could you repeat your question."

"Has a man by the name Dewey Andreas been admitted into this hospital?"

"Yes. At 2:54am last night."

"Could you describe the man for me please?" Finn sat on his bed and listened attentively.

"According to a description on his file, Mr Andreas had brown hair, he was six foot two, freckles…a blue eyes."

It was in that moment Finn's world collapsed. His mind shut down and his vision became blurred. He could hear somewhere in his own void a woman's voice calling out 'sir?', 'Are you there sir?' but Finn couldn't reply. He remained motionless.

"Had? What do you mean by 'had'" Finn uttered: his voice barely a whisper and raspy.

"Sir…Mr Andreas is deceased."

Finn looked down and felt tears falling down his face. His cheeks became warm and his body trembled with each breath and sob. He threw his phone on his bed and cried into his hands. Finn's two hands gripped his hair and pulled: he wanted to feel pain. He wanted to feel the pain Dewey felt before his death. It was unfair. Why was Finn allowed to live and Dewey wasn't? He was such a good man…a good friend…no Dewey was Finn's best mate.

Rachel walked up the stairs and saw Finn's door was left ajar. She slowly opened the door and saw Finn sitting with his back against the bed. It looked like he had finished crying but he was still in deep morose.

"Finn?"

Finn looked up and wiped the tears from his face.

"Sorry Rachel. I'm just..i'm-"

"Finn it's okay. You don't have to explain."

She sat next to Finn and leaned against the bed like him.

"Finn…I'm truly, truly sorry. I'm going to speak to my dad, he owes us an explanation for this."

"It's okay Rachel." Finn's voice was very hoarse and deep, "I just have to get over this hurdle as soon as possible. You come first and I can't bring my personal life into my work."

"Finn, you're human. It's okay to cry and take some time off for yourself. Losing a friend is a very difficult situation."

"Not this time Rachel. I made a promise to you and whatever happens…no matter how I feel- you come _first._ "

Rachel didn't know what to say, without hesitation Rachel sprang into Finn's arms. He was caught by surprise but accepted the hug. Finn felt Rachel burrow her head into the nook of his neck and he did the same. He smelt the sweetness of her skin and felt himself relax. Thank god he had Rachel.

They two sat on the floor in his each other's embrace until Rachel broke away. It was no more than a second when Rachel moved and kissed Finn on his lips. He didn't break away but much to Rachel's surprise, returned the kiss. They stood up and took a step towards each other. Rachel's hips pressed against Finn's groin and the two stumbled towards the door: each kiss becoming more ferocious than the last.

Finn leaned back, shut the door and locked it to make sure no one walked in on them…especially Jackson. Rachel's hands made their way up Finn's neck and led him towards the bed. Rachel knew Finn felt pain, he was hurting ever since he found out about Dewey's death: she just wanted to take the pain away. Rachel ran her hands up Finn's shirt feeling the firm, hard muscle underneath, she grabbed hold and lifted it off his back. Finn's pulse pounded furiously in his head. A small groan escaped his lips as Rachel started to unbuckle his belt and her fingers brushed against his crotch.

They laid on the bed on top of each other. Finn gripped the blankets as he hovered over Rachel and they kissed passionately. His muscular arms enveloped around her and his warmth surrounded her body. Rachel snuggled against his bare chest and breathed in. Finn had a comforting, warm smell which seeped into her causing Rachel to relax.

"Finn…" Rachel pulled Finn closer and coaxed him to respond to her embrace. Finn had a million thoughts swarm into his head: Dewey, Hiram, protecting Rachel. This was so wrong. If Hiram found out…

"Rachel, I can't do this." His voice was soft and raspy. Rachel finally admitted to herself that she loved Finn. She didn't want to listen to his excuses anymore, Rachel's lips crashed into Finn and waited for him to move. Finn finally gave into temptation and opened his mouth allowing for Rachel's tongue to slide in.

Rachel heard Finn's groan and smiled, she laid down flat on the bed and let Finn's mouth travel down her body.

Rachel felt dominant, she turned around and shoved Finn back on the bed on top of the pillows and cover. She straddled his lower half and traced every muscle and contour of his body. Finn breathed heavily and leaned his head back. In that moment Finn blocked out his thoughts and focused only on Rachel. Rachel was his rock and pillar and Finn was thankful…and grateful he had Rachel. In that moment…Finn smiled.

He woke up in Rachel's bed, his hair matted and dishevelled and both his shirt and pants off. He found Rachel sleeping against his bare chest: enveloping herself in his toned, tanned arms. Finn looked after at the clock: 2:15am. Rachel and he must have collapsed with exhaustion afterwards. Finn listened to Rachel's soft snores and rubbed his tired eyes. He couldn't stay here. Finn needed to get out of Rachel's bed.

Finn gently removed his arm from Rachel's head and picked up his shirt and jeans from the floor. He closed the door behind him and walked towards his room. Peering over the staircase, Finn found Kurt asleep on the sofa with a magazine draped over his rising chest. The house was dark and Finn could hear agents outside patrolling the area. Finn was about to tuck himself in bed when he heard a light tap on the door. He looked up and saw a tall man in the doorway.

"Palmer? Is everything alright?"

"I could ask you the same question Mr Hudson. I know Dewey Andreas was your best friend…the news must have been a heavy toll."

Finn felt tears building up behind his eyes, "Oh uh- I don't uh- know what to think about that." Finn held his head with his thumb and index and closed his eyes. The fact was, Finn _really_ didn't know what to think, he didn't know how to react or act. He just couldn't believe his best friend was dead. The news hadn't really sunken in.

"Do you want to see the crime scene? As in the place where it all went down? I can break in and show it to you."

Finn frowned. What was Palmer's angle? The three CIA agents hated Finn, why would Palmer show such compassion towards Jackson's enemy.

"Why would you do that for me?"

"For closure. I know what it's like to lose a friend. I think you deserve to know where your friend was, why he died and how he died. Mr Berry has kept that all a secret but don't you reckon you have a right to know?"

Finn let Palmer's words sink in. He really wanted to go to the crime scene. Palmer was right, Finn deserved to know: Dewey was his best friend and Finn wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't have closure and followed Palmer. Finn nodded and Palmer smiled.

Finn gestured towards the door: "Lead the way."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight**

It was a quiet and tense car ride. Finn sat in the front looking out the window with his chin resting on the palm of his hands. Finn looked at the navigation system and realised they had an hour left of the journey. Every metre they passed Finn felt heavy, he was drowning in guilt and pain and thinking about Dewey was self-torture.

Finn knew he was breaking the rules with Palmer: if Hiram knew that Finn had slept with his daughter and was currently on a road trip with an agent to a forbidden site…Mr Berry would murder Finn, twice to make sure he was dead.

Palmer made no effort to communicate. He was focused on the road ahead and occasionally listened to someone speak in his earpiece from a radio transmission. Finn looked over at Palmer: he had raven black hair combed over to the left, light hazel eyes and a sharp nose but all agents Finn knew of –Jackson, Max and now Palmer – were all serious. They had no light or glimmer in their eyes, the three of them had no life, they walked around like robots with only one focus in life: to follow orders. Finn wondered what Palmer was like as a child, was he talkative and active or a total recluse? He thought about children and remembered a very vivid childhood memory.

It was Finn's first day in McKinley High School and he was only a freshman. His mum had dropped him off and watched as he made his way up the stairs towards his locker. He looked around and saw a tall, short haired blonde woman in track suits yelling at cheerleaders and a short, hairy Indian principal sitting in his office.

Finn found his locker and placed his bag inside it. had just come from a small school in the outskirts of Lima, Ohio so McKinley was very new and big to him. He had no ambition or subjects he was interested in, Finn was just trying to settle down and make good friends. He looked around and saw a poster for football tryouts, having nothing to do Finn walked over to the oval. He saw a couple of boys lining up and stretching and later joined them.

"Hey." A boy with a Mohawk greeted.

"Hi."

"Name's Noah Puckerman but you can call me Puck."

"I'm Finn Hudson."

Puck nodded in acknowledgement and started jogging in one spot. A couple of the other boys had already started kicking and throwing balls and tackling each other. Feeling bold, Finn grabbed a ball and with all him might threw the ball as hard as he could. The football soared through the air for a couple of yards until it landed in front of the coach. Finn was taken aback.

'Great, what a good first impression Finn…you almost smacked the coach in the face.' He thought and ran after the ball. Finn looked apologetically at the coach and just as he was about to run back, he heard the coach speak.

"What's your name son?"

"My name? Uh-Finn Hudson."

"You've got a great throwing arm kid. Stick with it. Maybe in the future you could be our next Quarterback."

Finn remembered the memory so vividly. He wished he could go back to his freshman years when he was king of the school. Finn had started dating Quinn Fabray after he became the youngest student to join the football team and then the youngest player to be the Quarterback: the love didn't last long. During his sophomore years, Finn joined the glee club and that was when his popularity diminished and the bullying started. Finn thought about Puck for a second, he had lost contact with his childhood friend and wondered where in the world he was now.

He was brought back to reality when he felt the car jerk in place.

"We're here." Palmer opened the door and Finn followed suit. He walked behind Palmer and followed the agent as he made through two large gates. Finn noticed the cut locks and stepped over the chain. The building was charred and destroyed, ashes covered the pathway and the smell of smoke and burnt bodies lingered in the air. Finn zipped up his jacket and followed Palmer with his hands in his pockets.

Palmer kneeled on the floor and examined a smashed Walkie Talkie. He shook his head in disbelief, "We lost many good men today." Finn looked at Palmer and realised that he was genuinely upset and disturbed with the whole ordeal, Palmer ran a hand through his hair and put down the Walkie Talkie. He pulled open a door dangling on one hinge and walked inside: Finn followed. The slaughterhouse was destroyed, the fire had died down but the smoke still caked the air, Palmer reached into his bag and pulled out two masks, he handed one to Finn and the two finally breathed in.

Finn looked around the area, he stepped over rubble and debris until he came across a ripped shirt: the name Ben Handerson sewn on the fabric. Finn closed his eyes and had a moment of silence to pay respect for the fallen agents. He stood up and continued looking around, Finn heard creaking sounds above and looked up. The roof of the slaughterhouse had massive cracks and pieces of stone and paint were flaking off. It was going to collapse. Finn saw Palmer walking towards the danger zone and in a matter of seconds, Finn leapt forward and tackled Palmer onto the ground: narrowly missing the collapsing roof. The roof landed in a heap on the ground and surrounded Finn and Palmer in a cloud of dust and fire embers. They stood up and caught their breath.

"Fuck me." Palmer said and exhaled. He turned to Finn who was on the floor and helped him up. Palmer clapped Finn on his shoulder and the look of immense gratitude appeared on his face. "You just saved my life."

"Just doing my job." Finn brushed the dust off his pants and walked away.

The two walked around the slaughterhouse until they found yellow tape surrounding a dead end. Several agents and important looking men in suits stood around the dead end, among those men was Hiram. He looked grim and was seen pacing around the compound.

Finn and Palmer pulled the smoke masks off their faces.

"Shit! Max didn't tell me agents were still here."

"Max told you about this warehouse?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, Hiram made an effort to keep this particular massacre confidential. Only a handful of people know about it and I guess Max was one of the agents he told."

Finn nodded and continued spying on the agents in front of him. An agent wearing a brown jacket handed Hiram a phone. The moment he answered it, Hiram Berry's face turned into utter disgust and anger. He shoved the phone back to the agent and stormed off.

Palmer gave Finn binoculars and squatted next to him. Finn zoomed in and felt his stomach drop, he felt faint and as quickly as he could, Finn turned away from Palmer and vomited.

He had just seen Dewey's dead body.

Several agents had lifted him up on a stretcher, a man walked by and felt for a pulse, after a couple of minutes he shook his head and a white sheet was thrown over Dewey's head. Palmer walked over and rubbed Finn's back.

"Are you okay?"

"I shouldn't have come here." It dawned on Finn that he shouldn't have left Rachel. Even though a whole neighbourhood of agents surrounded her and Max and Jackson were in the house, Finn was not meant to leave her. "Can you uh- take me back please." Finn pinched the bridge of his nose and walked out of the gates towards the car.

"Yeah sure. Hudson…I'm sorry for taking you out here man. It was my mistake." Palmer held out a hand and Finn accepted it. The agent smiled nervously and unlocked the car, he reached back and handed Finn a water bottle."Take it easy alright…"

Finn nodded and never looked back. He tried very hard to erase the image of Dewey's dead body from his mind- he had to for Rachel.

Palmer looked at Finn anxiously; he had a feeling of guilt wash over him. Finn wasn't bad, he was just an ordinary guy whose job was to protect Rachel, he wasn't harming anyone. Jackson made it out to seem Finn was an incompetent fool who would end up killing Rachel but now it seemed that that wasn't the case. Palmer saw the way Finn looked at Rachel, he actually really cared for Hiram's daughter and she was in good hands.

Palmer wanted to bring Finn out to the site not only because Dewey was his best mate but he wanted to see for himself whether Finn was just as bad as Jackson had said.

Finn was a good guy and the other agents should see that. Palmer would take a bullet for Jackson but sometimes his jealously takes over his mind and actions.

Finn drank from the water bottle and rolled down the windows. He closed his eyes as he felt the chilly breeze rush past his face. 'I'm so sorry Dewey.' Finn thought and looked out the window. He wondered what Hiram heard which made him so angry –maybe he found out there was a traitor hidden in the tactical team?

Palmer turned a corner and finally drove up the driveway. Finn looked around and saw agents patrolling the neighbourhood – a handful of them dressed as civilians – Finn got out of the car and walked inside. Kurt was sitting on the couch watching a show about drag queens and he patted the spot next to him. Finn smiled and felt a tap on his shoulder.

Palmer stood behind him with his hands outstretched; Finn shook his hands and smiled. At least there was one agent who didn't despise Finn. Palmer wore his night vision goggles and walked outside for his patrolling shift. Finn took a seat next to Kurt and grabbed a handful of chips Kurt had prepared on the table.

"You two seemed friendly."

"Yeah apparently so." Finn said and rested his head against the back of the couch.

"Where did you go?"

"Palmer asked if I wanted to go to the site where Dewey's team was bombed…and I said yes. I knew the dangers of going there especially with an agent I didn't really trust but I just thought of Dewey. I needed to see him, you know?"

"Yeah, I would've done the same thing. Rachel's fine by the way, you don't have to worry about her. She's sound asleep."

"I shouldn't have left her though." Finn shook his head and ran a hand through his hair: messing it up.

"Hey, it's fine Finn. Dewey was your best friend, sometimes even the toughest of guys need to follow their hearts and put their feelings first."

Finn nodded and stood up.

"I'm not tired…I'll just patrol the area for a little while." Finn checked his back pocket for his gun, grabbed his jacket and walked out of the door. He walked along the path and said 'hey' to several agents walking by with German Shepherds on leads. Finn conceded that he was stressed; he had so many emotions and disturbing thoughts coursing through his mind. Finn wanted it all to stop; he just wanted to protect Rachel without having to worry about Jackson, traitors and…Dewey's death. He still didn't trust Palmer one hundred percent but at least there was progress between Finn and the CIA agents. Finn leaned against the tree and observed Rachel's house from the other side of the path. He needed fresh air for a second and Finn just wanted some time for himself for a short while.

* * *

"Please sir, I have a family. Please I don't wanna die."

A loud gunshot rang and the man dropped to the floor: a pool of blood seeping from the bloody hole on his face.

President Udfar sat in his chair and wiped the droplets of blood of his table and suit.

"What shall we do with the body sir?"

"What else? Dispose of it." He retorted and snapped his fingers. Udfar had just killed one of his men, he wasn't putting in much effort into his work so the president had him tortured than killed - it's as simple as that.

His trusty advisor walked up and handed him a phone.

"Speak."

"President Udfar, my team and I have heard of new information about Rachel Berry."

"Go on…"

"An inside source has told me that they are in witness protection."

"Where?"

"A couple of miles from the CIA headquarters."

"What about that bodyguard? What's his name?-" Udfar snapped his fingers to think, "-ah Finn Hudson?"

"The 'inside source' has thought of a way to get rid of him. It may take some time but I'll let you know when it's done."

"Make sure it is subtle. I want the element of surprise."

"Yes sir."

His advisor walked out and man dressed in black tactical gear strutted in. It was James, he had a smug appearance and his shotgun hung loosely across his broad shoulders. He lifted his arms up and chuckled:

"See, I told you I could do it. No one believed me. I killed Andreas and his stupid fucking team all by myself." James was Udfar's newest recruit and judging by his boastful nature, he still had so much to learn.

"I will be impressed once you have captured Rachel Berr-"

"-and I will." James interrupted. Udfar's patience was wearing thin. "President Udfar, you gave me an order to assassinate Dewey Andreas and i delivered. It only took me two fucking weeks!"

Udfar looked at James. He was young and his cocky behaviour aggravated the president.

"You know what? I think i have the talent to find Finn Hudson as well." James arrogantly looked around and received several death stares from Udfar's men who have been tasked with finding Finn Hudson.

Udfar stood up threateningly and jabbed a slender finger at James who suddenly had a look of terror on his face.

"Your job is to capture Rachel Berry. I have another man on the inside who will take care of Finn. Is that understood?"

James stared into Udfar's cold black eyes and swallowed nervously.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now get to work."

James ran out of his office and as quickly as he could, shut the door behind him.

Udfar smiled, he turned his chair around and walked towards a room. On the wall on the far side from the door, stood a large cork board with newspaper clippings, photographs and a map of Virginia. Udfar grabbed a pen and drew large red circles around Langley.

"In one of these circles...Rachel Berry resides." He said to himself. Udfar grabbed a pin and stuck a picture of Finn Hudson on the wall, he grabbed a sharp knife and stabbed the photo, pushing the knife into Finn's heart.

"Soon you will join your friend." Udfar turned to look at the adjacent photo. Next to Finn's picture was a coloured photo of Dewey Andreas with a Red Cross drawn on his face. "Enjoy your life while it lasts." Udfar laughed and stormed out of the room, only the echoes of his laugh could be heard around the Talisman headquarters.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Rachel stirred and slowly opened her eyes, she checked the time and saw 3:25am written on her alarm clock. The sky was still dark but the low murmur of agents could be heard in the bedroom. Rachel rubbed her eyes and slipped her feet into her cotton slippers and walked downstairs.

'Where is everyone?' She thought. Rachel saw Kurt sitting on the couch and joined him.

"Where's Finn?" Rachel finally asked.

"He went to patrol the area: Finn's probably around the neighbourhood. He went out with Palmer before to Dewey's last location and…I don't know but I think he saw something bad."

Rachel nodded sympathetically and looked around the house, other than Kurt there was no one in the house.

"What about the other agents? Jackson? Max? Palmer?"

"Palmer started his 'night time patrolling' shift and Max and Jackson said they needed to tell your dad something."

"My dad?" Rachel shrugged.

The jangling of keys caught her attention and a couple of minutes later Finn walked in through the door and locked eyes with Rachel. She could see his warm breath smoke the cold air around him; he looked apologetic and walked towards Rachel with his head hung low.

"I'm so sorry Rachel, I should never have left you. It was wrong and unprofession-"

Rachel pressed her finger against his lips and smiled, Finn had been apologising too much for the past couple of weeks: he was still human and everyone had their ups and downs. Rachel studied Finn's face, his eyes had a faint red rim around them. Was Finn crying before?

"I don't care-" Rachel ran a hand through Finn's brown hair and stroked his face. Finn's face leaned against Rachel's warm touch and he closed his eyes, "-just as long as you come back to me alright?"

Finn walked closer to Rachel until he could feel her warmth against his skin.

"I'll always come back to you. Always." Finn whispered. They were standing so close to one another that Rachel could smell his faint cologne radiating from his jacket. She wanted to pull him in and wrap herself in his muscular arms. She _wanted_ Finn desperately: her body yearned for his touch every passing second. Rachel leaned her head forward until it rested against Finn's broad chest, she didn't want this feeling to end.

Settling into the couch, Rachel snuggled next to her bodyguard and closed her eyes. She was happy. Despite the dangers of terrorists knowing who she was, Rachel felt safe. She knew she could trust Finn and knew without a doubt that Finn would never hurt her. With that in mind, Rachel felt her body and mind relax. Kurt's show was only a muffle in the background and Rachel fell asleep listening to the hum of Finn's breathing.

Finn sat on the couch for an hour. He didn't move a muscle in fear that he would wake Rachel. When he was sure she was fast asleep, Finn carried Rachel in his arms and gently tucked her into bed. He pulled the cover over Rachel and closed the curtains across the window. Finn looked back and without any thought, leaned in and kissed Rachel on her forehead. He caught her smiling at his kiss and left the room smiling too. Finn gently closed the door and said 'goodnight' to Kurt: it had been a long, tiring night.

* * *

As hard as he tried, Finn was too tired to sleep. He tossed and turned in his single bed and pulled his cover up and down his body. Finn flipped his pillow and tried to sleep against the cool surface but it was just no use. Finn just couldn't sleep. Two hours had passed and Finn decided that he should get up: he might as well be productive.

Finn walked downstairs and wore his running shoes, he walked inside the garage and ran three miles on the treadmill with incline. His lungs burned but he didn't care, Finn enjoyed every minute of it. Perhaps that was why he passed the army with flying colours. Finn pumped his legs and felt them grow hotter with each mile: he wanted to erase every bad memory of Dewey's death, Jackson and the Talisman. Finn increased the incline and speed in order to push the past out of his head.

"Come on, you got this." Finn told himself through gritted teeth. He felt beads of sweat run down his face and closed his eyes. Finn thought of Rachel, he would do anything for Rachel. Finn would always protect Rachel and he would…take a bullet for her with no hesitation: Finn had said that countless times before, but this time…Finn knew for sure that he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his mission.

A memory flashed before his mind's eye. It was his first tour in Syria, Finn was anxious but proud to be serving his country. He looked over at Dewey who was busy looking at a photo of his ex-girlfriend. Finn hunched over to him and sat next to his best mate.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. You'll be back to her in no time."

"That's true." Dewey chuckled.

"I got your back and you got mine okay?"

"Always." Dewey grasped Finn's hand tight.

"Right on, Andreas."

The army truck stopped and the soldiers ran off into a secure building. The sergeant followed suit and briefed his men.

"The mission is to capture this man: Omar Abboud." The Sergeant pulled out a photo of a black haired man with the same coloured beard. "Team D, you will surround this compound." The Sergeant pointed to a collection of houses to the West. "Team C, you will surround the compound from the East and Team A and B you will flank from the North and South respectively. Is that understood?"

The Sergeant pulled out a detailed mission blueprint and the soldiers surrounded the table. The Sergeant made his way towards Finn.

"You are my best man. I'm counting on you to make history today. When you see that fucking bastard Abboud, you shoot him dead you hear me? Whatever happens, don't let anything get in the way of your mission. Focus. Concentrate and live to tell the tale."

The Sergeant slapped Finn on the side of his shoulder and walked away leaving Finn with immense pride and confidence. The forces separated and drove to their designated destinations. Finn gripped his gun tight and followed Dewey to their vehicles. He looked around and saw an array of different emotions, some soldiers were frightened to the core, some wanted adventure and some just wanted to kill.

The view was barren, there were no trees or plantation. In every direction there were bombed houses, destroyed cars and sand. Finn tightened his helmet and thought about his mother: he wondered how she was doing. Finn hadn't seen her for many months after he joined the army. She was against it at first saying that 'she couldn't bear to lose more of her loved ones to war' but after Finn explained his reason for joining – to honour his fallen father- Carole finally but reluctantly agreed.

"Fuck me."

Finn jolted from his position and stared out the window. He stopped breathing and gripped his gun tighter. Dewey leaned over Finn and shook his head.

"It's a massacre."

Dead bodies laid scattered on the bloody ground. Bullet holes caked each body and disturbing last messages were written on the ground and walls.

"Are we too late?" A soldier asked but Finn studied the bodies: several were already rotting away.

"No. They are expecting us."

Many bullets pelted against the vehicles and the soldiers ducked down. Finn and Dewey rolled outside and shielded themselves behind the vehicle from the showering of bullets. Hours passed and their armed forces were slowly winning the battle against the terrorists. Suddenly, an RPG shot through the air and collided with the front tire of a truck, the car burst into flames and fell backwards from the force. Without hesitation, Finn ran and pulled the door off the truck. Three soldiers were stuck inside, their faces covered with blood and smoke.

"Hudson! Get out of here, it's going to blow!"

"Give me a second, I got this!" Finn grabbed his pocket knife and sawed through the seatbelt and managed to pull two soldiers out of the burning truck. Without a second to lose, he ran back to the truck and lifted the collapsed roof off the leg of the third soldier.

"Finn, forget about me! Just save yourself." The soldier said through gritted teeth. Finn looked to the side and saw a line of petrol spreading towards the flames.

"Never leave a man behind!" Finn placed one foot into the car and lifted the roof, he saw Dewey run over and unbuckle the man's belt. Dewey pulled the soldier out and hoisted him on his shoulders. Finn dropped the heavy metal and pulled Dewey and the soldier back seconds before the truck exploded. Ever since that day, Finn was never going to let anything get in his way. He was never going to give up and Finn knew he was strong and determined enough to see through the hardest days.

Finn inhaled a laboured breath and stepped off the treadmill. He doubled over and fought to catch his breath. Finn finished his workout with a fresh, determined mindset. He smiled and knew…he was back and ready to protect.

He wiped off the sweat with a towel and made his way into the kitchen to make Rachel breakfast. Pancakes? Rachel likes those.

* * *

Rachel's alarm woke her up. She heard the distant sound of pans and frying and smelt the sweet smell of pancakes. Rachel brushed her teeth and peered out of her doorway. She saw Finn walking towards the shower with his shirt off. Feeling bold, Rachel followed Finn to the bathroom and spied at him through the door, she walked forward cautiously and opened the shower door. Finn was in there with soap dripping down his face and was taken aback when he saw Rachel's naked frame.

"Rachel…I-uh" Finn stammered but Rachel walked towards Finn. She felt the soothing hot water pelting on her back and finally gave into her urges. Finn and Rachel kissed passionately inside the shower. Finn backed towards the wall and ran his hands up and down Rachel, he felt himself go hard immediately but this time, Finn didn't care. Rachel pulled and tugged his hair and brushed her hips against Finn, eliciting a groan from her bodyguard. The groan was music to her ears and continued grinding Finn against the wall. Finn tilted his head back and felt the water on his face: he _wanted_ Rachel Berry. The two moaned in the shower, leaving handprints on the shower door. Rachel's hands made their down towards Finn's lower half and stroked his groin causing Finn to open his mouth with pleasure from the touch.

Finn gripped Rachel's face and his tongue penetrated her mouth. He never noticed this before but Rachel was ferocious during sex. He felt the hot water drip down his face and being intimate with Rachel actually made him feel like a normal human being for the first time in his life. The hot water steamed the entire bathroom and it got to the point where Finn wasn't sure whether he was actually sweating from sex or if it was the hot water. Finn felt the warmth of her body and her touch, her kisses were full of life and Finn needed that. "I love you Finn Hudson." Rachel spoke through kisses and planted one lasting kiss on Finn's forehead.

* * *

Kurt looked at Rachel and Finn during breakfast. Finn seemed content and Rachel was awfully happy. He continued to stare at them even during spoonful's of cereal.

"You two look different."

Finn and Rachel hid a smile together.

"It's a new day Kurt! Of course I'm happy." Rachel put a hand on Finn's thigh and squeezed.

"Okay, you might think I'm crazy but I have a sixth sense when it comes to… figuring out people. Something went down between the two of you, I can feel it." Kurt pointed his fingers between the two seemingly happy couple and broke into a laugh as well. "Now I know what being a third wheel feels like." Kurt said as he stared at Rachel looking at her bodyguard lovingly. "Finn, feel free to introduce me to any of your gay soldier buddies."

After breakfast, Finn took Rachel for a quick stroll around the neighbourhood. Kurt wanted to stay at home to make some homemade cookies so Finn and Rachel wore their jackets and walked out of the house. There was a small park near their house and even though it was overrun by agents and the CIA's fitness bootcamp, Rachel was glad Finn was there. They sat on swings and stared off into the distance.

"You know what I think?" Rachel asked and gently rocked herself back and forth.

"What?"

"I think things are finally starting to look up. I mean the CIA are probably close to finding the Talisman: it's been little over two months, Palmer is actually a pretty decent guy and…I have you."

"I think you're right Rachel." Finn nodded and breathed in a sigh of relief.

It was cut short when Finn spotted three black vans entering the neighbourhood. He saw Hiram walk off and barge into Rachel's house. Finn felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and it turned out to be Kurt.

"Finn, you better come back to the house. Hiram's here."

Rachel felt nervous and she didn't know why. Why was her dad here? What did he want? The moment Rachel opened the door she was met by dozens of Hiram's bodyguard and her dad, himself.

Bodyguards swarmed the house and Max and Jackson trailed behind Hiram with grins on their faces. Rachel turned around in shock and Kurt did the same.

"Dad? What are yo-"

"Where's Finn Hudson?" Hiram said and received blank looks from Rachel and Kurt, "Where in the goddam hell is your bodyguard?!" Hiram's yelling startled Rachel. She had never seen him this angry for a while now. The last time Hiram yelled like this was when she was fifteen years old and Central Intelligence had let a known terrorist slip through their fingers even though he was imprisoned under their watch. Hiram's face was red, his head was covered with beads of sweat and his chest rose and fell with anger.

Finn finally walked in and stood next to Rachel, a look of panic appeared on his face.

"What is going on?" Rachel shouted but was ignored. Jackson and Max walked up to her and patted Rachel's shoulders.

"Your bodyguard is just getting what he deserves." Jackson said.

Finn knew something had happened and he had a hunch about what that 'something' was.

"Hudson…is it true what Jackson and Max told me? Is it true you went with Palmer to the bomb site?" Hiram walked towards Finn who stood firmly in his ground with a nervous look on his face. He couldn't lie and even if he did, it was his word against two of Hiram's most treasured agents.

Finn swallowed, "Yes, I did." In that moment, Palmer ran and stood in front of Finn.

"Sir, it was my fault. I took Finn to the site and asked him to come." Palmer held his arms up in surrender.

Rachel didn't care that Finn went to the crime scene, Dewey was his best friend and she had heard from Kurt that Finn actually socialised with Palmer: so going to the site wasn't all that bad.

"I don't see what the big problem is dad, Finn wasn't even gone for the whole day."

Hiram seethed, pushed Palmer and Rachel out of the way and took another step towards Finn.

"Is it true you slept with my daughter?"

Finn looked up and saw Jackson and Max chuckling and shaking their heads with a mock disapproval.

"He didn't do anything okay? Can you please leave?" Rachel pleaded but Hiram stood his ground. She didn't even know how he found out. She wasn't embarrassed or humiliated...just scared for Finn.

"I'm asking you a question. Did you sleep with my daughter?"

Rachel looked at Finn and shook her head, begging him to say no. She knew too well the consequences of telling the truth. But Finn knew the consequences of lying to an official especially someone of Hiram's rank. He took one look at Rachel and apologised through his eyes

"Hiram…I'm so sorry."

It was the final straw, Hiram grabbed Finn by the collar and smashed him against the wall. Finn didn't fight back, he didn't care that his head was now throbbing from the impact but his mind was on Rachel. She was yelling at Hiram to stop and Finn felt his heart sink. Hiram released his grip and walked right up to Finn.

"You will no longer be my daughter's bodyguard."

The words were toxic and laced with so much poison.

"Get yourself back to Fort Benning and never come back again." Hiram shoved a plane ticket into Finn's hands and stepped back.

Three agents walked down carrying Finn's back and ushering him towards a black van waiting outside. Finn hesitantly turned around and followed the agents out of the house. He heard Rachel's footsteps and felt two hands wrap around his neck.

"Finn…come back to me alright. Don't leave me." Rachel looked at Finn with tears flowing down her cheeks. Finn nodded and kissed Rachel and stepped inside the van. He couldn't believe that was the last time he was going to see Rachel Berry.

Rachel looked at the van drive along the road until it became a speck in the distance. She turned towards Hiram with anger.

"He was protecting me! Look at me dad! I'm perfectly safe, I'm perfectly healthy."

"Sleeping with my daughter does not mean protecting-" Hiram walked over to Jackson and Max, "-Jackson and Max will be your new bodyguards. I don't want to see you talking to Finn ever agin."

Rachel collapsed on the floor and sobbed. Palmer and Kurt knelt down beside her and held Rachel in their arms.

"Everything will be okay Rachel." Kurt soothed and stroked Rachel's hair. But everything wasn't okay. Finn was not only her bodyguard but he was her life, her home. With Finn gone, Rachel felt scared. Now, she felt the presence of the Talisman. Now, she was petrified.

* * *

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews and being such loyal readers! All i can say is...brace yourself for the upcoming chapters. It's going to be one hell of a ride.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

The car ride to the airport was difficult at best. Finn had to put up with disapproving looks and scoffs from several agents in the car. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rested his chin on his knuckles. Everything escalated so quickly…too quickly. Finn was just finding his feet again after Dewey's death and his relationship with Rachel had grown. What was Finn going to do now? He was going back to Fort Benning, Finn was going to be amongst his unit and training for war just like the old times: but how was he supposed to forget everything, forget Rachel?

Finn fiddled with a loose string from his jacket, he could still smell Rachel's faint perfume on his jacket. Finn looked at his plane ticket: Economy. Delta Air Lines. Columbus. Georgia. He placed it inside his jacket and leaned back against the seat. Finn didn't really know how to feel: of course he was devastated but he also felt empty. Finn had promised Rachel he would always come back to her but he actually had no clue how he was going to do that. Even if Finn visited Rachel months after the whole Talisman ordeal has ended, Hiram wasn't going to let him anywhere near Rachel. Hell, Hiram would probably castrate Finn before he could say hi.

"What a Lima Loser."

Finn looked over to the agents sitting adjacent to him in the van.

"I know right. He had one job and he couldn't even do it."

Arrogant chuckles could be heard, Finn felt uncomfortable and tried to tune out the conversation.

"I told you didn't I? These army folk can't be trusted, they're all just dirty animals-" The agent turned to look at Finn. "-Can't believe you took advantage of Hiram's daughter."

"I _can't believe_ that Rachel would do it with _him._ I actually thought that one look at his dick would've sent her out the door." The agents laughed and shook their heads at Finn. They wanted him to hear that. Finn felt weirdly self-conscious and brought his legs together, he coughed awkwardly and sat up straight.

After what seemed like hours, the black van finally arrived at the airport. The boot of the van opened and Finn grabbed his suitcase, he walked into the terminal without looking back to say goodbye.

Finn handed the woman his passport and heaved his suitcase on the conveyer belt.

"Heading to Georgia?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay in Virginia."

The lady smiled and sent Finn's luggage down the belt to be later picked up.

 _If only she knew._

He walked to the food court and sat down. Finn took a much needed exhale and rubbed his temple. Looking at his phone, Finn saw three messages from Rachel:

 **R** : Finn, i'm so sorry

 **R** : I miss you so much

 **R** : Please text me once you arrive in Georgia

Rachel was so close yet so far. Boarding the plane, Finn took his seat next to an elderly woman who was looking out the plane window. She turned around and flashed a warm smile at Finn who was busy buckling himself in. She had soft features, her hazel eyes twinkled and her lips were arched into a sweet curve. The lady was probably in her late seventies judging by the wrinkles on her face and hands and white hair. She pulled the complimentary blanket on her thighs and rested her hands on her lap.

The pilot announced the upcoming takeoff and every passenger tightened their belts and waited for the plane to run on the runway. Once the plane cruised in the air, Finn put in his earphones and tried to relax with the music. He was exhausted, Finn couldn't remember the last time he had a good night's rest. He closed his eyes and heard the plane's engine gradually become a muffle. Finn napped for half an hour before a loud cough woke him up. It wasn't long before he felt a slight chill from the high altitude of the plane. Finn searched his carry-on bag and found his old army jacket, it still had his rank and number sewn on the sleeves.

The old lady sitting next to him turned and looked at the jacket. She tapped Finn on the arm and he took out his earphones.

"My son was in the armed forces just like you."

Finn looked at his jacket.

"Really?"

"Hi, my name's Carole." The lady turned to look at Finn once again and opened her hands for a shake.

"Finn Hudson-" Finn accepted the handshake and smiled, "-My mom's name is Carole." It was in that moment, Finn realised just how much he missed his mother.

"Well, I bet she's a beautiful lady."

"Yeah…she is."

Carole frowned and pointed a finger at Finn.

"Did you say your name was Finn Hudson?"

"Yeah I dd."

"Are you the Fort Benning kid?"

Finn nodded once more and suddenly felt two warm hands on his face. The old lady laughed and kissed Finn's cheeks.

"You saved my son from the burning truck in Syria. He was the last soldier in that truck and you…you saved his life."

Finn remembered that mission. It was his first tour and capturing Omar Abboud was first priority. Finn couldn't help but feel pride and happiness that he at least did one thing right in his life.

"How is he?"

"Well Mr Hudson, because of you, my son was able to give me two beautiful grandchildren and become one of the best lawyers Boston has ever seen." She squeezed Finn's hand before settling back into her seat. Finn transited in Atlanta before heading over to Georgia. He bid a heartfelt goodbye to the old lady before hopping on the plane for Georgia. It was only a one hour trip before Finn finally reached his destination, he caught the military shuttle bus and headed straight for Fort Benning.

Finn had missed the scenery: the trees and the mountains. Over in New York and Virginia, there were buildings and skyscrapers as far as the eye could see and even though Finn thought they were 'modern' and 'cool', the countryside was where Finn felt at home. He sent a message to Rachel and held his phone waiting for a reply.

 **F** : I've arrived in Georgia. Rachel, i miss you too.

The bus turned a corner and Finn saw the familiar sign.

'WELCOME TO FORT BENNING U.S. ARMY – military reservation'

Finn looked up and shook his head in disbelief. Standing with arms crossed was his mentor from hand-to-hand combat training: Shannon Beiste. She was a big lady, a bit scary sometimes but Finn loved her. She was like a guardian to him ever since he told her about his dad and how he joined the army to not only serve the country but to clear his father's name.

"Who is this?" Beiste joked and hugged Finn the moment he stepped off the shuttle bus. "Long time no see son."

"Miss you too Shannon." Finn slung his duffle over his shoulder and followed Beiste. He left his suitcase near a metal fence before taking a nice walk with his mentor around the army base for a catch up. They finally found a wooden bench and sat down.

"The boys will be so happy to see you Hudson. They're always bugging me about you, asking: 'Where's Finn?' or 'When will he be back?'."

"Well, I'm excited to see them too." Finn clasped his hands together and breathed in the cold, fresh evening air.

"I heard about Andreas. Sorry son, I know how close you two were." Beiste rested her hand on Finn's broad shoulder and squeezed for reassurance.

"Things happen…don't they Shannon."

Shannon turned to look at Finn. He didn't have the same charisma or hope like before. Did something happen to him?

"So how's life been treating you?"

Finn shrugged: "Fine…I guess?"

"Kid, I can read you like an open book. Something's getting you down."

"Shannon-" Finn could feel a build up of tears behind his eyes. "-I think I screwed up. I'm not the invincible man I thought I was when Hiram Berry recruited me and I kinda feel like…I let Rachel down…I let myself down." Finn found Shannon easy to talk to because she didn't ask any questions or pry. She would listen and give him advice like his mother would back in Lima.

"Do you know why I liked you during combat training? It wasn't because you were the best in the class or because you kicked my ass during an assessment…it was because of your determination and perseverance-" Shannon rubbed Finn's back to calm him down. "You know why you're special?"

Beiste leaned forward and placed her hand on Finn's heart. "Because you've got a heart of gold son. They don't make men like you. You're one in a gazillion Hudson and you damn well gotta believe it."

Finn looked down and smiled.

"Thanks Shannon."

"Alright. Enough of this emotional drama, I think it's time you were reunited with some old buddies."

* * *

Rachel wiped her tears and finally gathered the strength to look at Hiram.

"I can't believe you did that." She seethed.

"I'm only protecting you."

"Keep telling yourself that. Finn wasn't harming anyone and he was especially not harming me, he was protecting me. Who cares if we had sex? I'm a grown woma-"

"He was meant to be your bodyguard. He was _meant_ to put his interests aside-" Hiram walked up to Rachel dominantly. "Rachel Berry, if your life wasn't in danger I wouldn't give a damn if you slept with Finn Hudson and _all_ the agents in the whole goddam agency! Finn wasn't doing his job and right now professionalism and vigilance are essential."

"Do you really think that Finn was just another army fuckboy whose only goal was to sleep around?" Rachel didn't care that she swore, she needed her father to see the truth. "Do you know how many times he has managed to save my life and reputation?" Rachel thought back to the two thugs at the NYADA party. "Do you know how many hours he had spent waiting outside NYADA for my classes to finish so I wasn't left alone?" Rachel spat and took a big step towards Hiram.

"Finn Hudson-" She pointed towards the door and tried to calm the quivering in her voice, "-the man that you just sent away, has been there for me more times than _you_ ever could. All this time, have you actually asked how I'm doing?"

Hiram looked around at his agents who were standing around awkwardly in the house as they listened to the fight between their boss and his daughter.

"I am your father. Do you know how many hours i have spent in headquarters trying to track down the Talisman for you?"

"All my life i just wanted you to stop and hug me...and tell me everything's going to be alright. Sure, you're my father but you don't feel like my dad."

Rachel walked past Hiram and stormed upstairs, Kurt followed Rachel into Finn's room and closed the door behind him. Hiram swallowed and buttoned up his coat.

"Max, you will be in charge of my daughter and Kurt Hummel. Jackson, I want you to come with me back to Langley. I need your expertise in tracking to locate the Talisman" Hiram walked over to Palmer. "And you…just make yourself useful around the house."

Hiram left and the swarm of agents followed suit. They climbed into the black agency vans and made their way towards Langley once more.

Back in the house, Rachel choked and finally couldn't fight the tears. They flowed down her face and she brought Finn's pillow up to her nose. Finn's musky smell overwhelmed her senses and all she could do was picture his handsome face. A face she will probably never see again.

"I agree with everything you said." Kurt soothed and sat next to Rachel on Finn's single bed.

"I just can't believe he's gone."

Kurt sighed and rubbed Rachel's shoulders.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better…Jackson is travelling to Langley with Hiram so you don't have to put up with that asshole for a while."

Rachel smiled softly and wiped her tear stained cheeks with the back of her sleeve.

"I'm so glad I have you." Rachel turned and hugged Kurt, at least she still had one man in her life who cared for her.

Downstairs, Palmer played around with his gun on the coffee table. He turned on Masterchef for some form of entertainment but all he could feel was guilt. It was partly his fault that Finn got the boot and his fault that Rachel and Finn parted ways. Palmer looked over at Max who was busy making a phone call in the backyard. Palmer wasn't as close to Max as he was with Jackson. Hiram brought Max in six months before the whole ordeal with the Talisman and he just tagged along on some missions and proved he had great skill in weapons and combat. Max was a short fellow but boy did he have a mean right hook.

Palmer disassembled and assembled his gun out of boredom and finally realised Max had already finished his phone call and was sitting next to him on the couch. The smell of cigarettes wafted into Palmer's nose and he grimaced. He hated the smell of smoke.

"Boy did that Hudson guy have it coming."

Palmer frowned.

"He wasn't bad. Finn was actually a pretty good bodyguard." Palmer defended.

"Whatever you say."

Palmer scoffed, 'Jackson wannabe' he thought and kicked back to finish watching the cooking show.

It wasn't long until it was midnight. Normally around this time, the majority of agents would be inside their temporary homes briefing on their next point of action or deciding who's patrolling what areas. Rachel and Kurt were still upstairs watching reruns of Moulin Rouge when the abrupt sound of gunshots rang through the neighbourhood. Rachel, Kurt and Palmer sat upright.

"Kurt…What was that?"

Before Kurt had any time to process Rachel's question, five bombs erupted through the neighbourhood shaking Rachel and Kurt. The strong vibrations could be felt around the house and Kurt had a difficult time standing up. Rachel peered through the window and felt her stomach drop.

The Talisman were here.

The extremist group gunned down every agent with their powerful machine guns and many Talisman members swarmed the area and entered different houses.

"They're here. The Talisman are here."

Kurt suddenly felt the colour drain from his face and he had to swallow to stop bile from rising in his stomach.

"Kurt…I need Finn."

Palmer barged in through the door with a gun loaded in his right hand.

"We need to get the fuck out of here right now." He extended her hand and pulled Rachel away from the windows. The three ran downstairs where they bumped into Max. A small bomb was dropped through the shattered skylight and exploded in front of their faces, throwing Rachel and Kurt backwards and separating them.

"Go Palmer! Take Kurt! I've got Rachel!" Max shouted. Palmer and Kurt saw Rachel with Max and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on, we'll meet up with them later outside!" Palmer and Kurt turned and ran away from through the exit on their side of the house. The bomb had left a huge hole on the floor in the house, there was no way Rachel could've jumped to join Palmer and Kurt. Even though she trusted Palmer, Max was all she had.

Max grabbed Rachel violently on the wrist and lead her through the exit behind them.

"Rachel! We have to go!" The two ran out through the backward furthering the distance between herself and Kurt.

* * *

"I really hope Rachel's okay." Kurt said as he felt his lungs burn from exhaustion.

"Yeah, me too." Palmer ran with his gun out in front of him. "Let's just keep running." By this time, Palmer's face was black from the smoke and his throat was parched from the running but Kurt was his main priority right now.

Palmer and Kurt finally reached their designated location for their getaway. They waited for Rachel and Max. Palmer was alert, the Talisman was around every corner and the faint sound of bombs could still be heard. The night sky grew gold as the fires spread through the neighbourhood.

"This…this was an ambush." Kurt shook his head in fright.

"Where the hell are they?" Palmer couldn't risk calling in case Rachel and Max were hiding from the Talisman.

"Palmer? Please tell me Rachel will be fine."

Palmer paced backwards and forwards. He looked at the abandoned house behind Kurt. The getaway car was right behind the house but they couldn't leave without Rachel and Max. Palmer could almost taste survival and freedom.

Each passing minute was torturous. Both men knew they had to wait for the others but every second confirmed their hunches that Max and Rachel were either captured by the Talisman or dead.

Suddenly the screeching of tires shocked Kurt and Palmer. The Talisman were driving towards them but they were still too far for the terrorists to see. Palmer looked and saw an underground basement next to the cottage.

"Fuck!" Palmer smashed the lock and shoved Kurt inside the basement. "Whatever happens, don't come out. I promise they'll never find you. If you hear anything, run to the back of the house and drive to Langley "

Kurt walked down the steps carefully.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" He asked and looked back at the agent.

"I'm going to buy you some time." Palmer shut the basement and jumped behind a stone fence for cover. Kurt looked through a small crack in the basement and saw the Talisman get out of their vehicles.

"Oh my god." Kurt brought his hands to his mouth in shock and took a step back. Max held Rachel in headlock and behind him stood dozens of Talisman agents.

"Max? What the fuck?" Kurt saw Palmer walk towards the Talisman with the weight of betrayal burdening his shoulders. He looked at Rachel, she was crying and frightened to the core. The Talisman had her.

"Oh please Palmer." Max scoffed and pointed a gun at Rachel's head.

Palmer put his hands up and slowly walked towards Max.

"Why did you do it? Why'd you betray us for the Talisman?" Kurt saw Palmer trying to calm Rachel down. His heart was beating violently in his chest and even though he didn't believe in god, Kurt prayed for Palmer and Rachel's safety.

"Cut the bullshit. Drop your fucking weapon on the ground!" Max shouted and took the safety off his gun. Palmer balled his knuckles into a fist and placed his gun on the floor in defeat. Kurt continued to stare through the crack and caught Palmer's gesture. The agent was signalling for Kurt to run, something was going to happen.

"Max-" Palmer walked forward cautiously but was grabbed by two Talisman agents. Max chloroformed Rachel and handed her limp body to the Talisman agents behind him to be put in the van. "-you son of a bitch."

Palmer was punched in the stomach by his captors. Max walked up to the beaten agent and pointed a gun at his chest.

"Nice meeting you."

Kurt flinched and gasped as the bullet ripped through Palmer's body. The agents stepped back and watched as his body slumped on the ground in a heap. Max spat and turned back towards the vans. The Talisman finally drove off in the night with Rachel in their possession and leaving the neighbourhood to burn. Kurt waited until the coast was clear before rushing to Palmer's side.

"Palmer!" Kurt found the bullet wound and placed pressure on his chest. Palmer was still alive but his life was fading fast.

"Kurt…what are you doing? Get out of here." Palmer choked on his own blood and curled into a fetal position from the pain

"I can't just leave you here."

"Hey, hey hey-" Palmer tried to grab Kurt's attention. "-I've accepted my death but I don't accept yours. Get out of here, drive to Langley and tell Hiram everything. Get out of here…and survive Kurt." Palmer lifted his hand and Kurt accepted the handshake.

Kurt stood up and ran to the back of house, he started the engine and drove to Langley. He had tears falling down his face but he had to be strong. Kurt reached over and found a phone in the glove box: before he called Langley, he needed to call someone first.

* * *

Shannon Beiste led Finn towards the bunkers. He was still feeling nostalgic as he walked through the shooting ranges, boot camp fields and mud grounds.

"Fellas, look who's here!" Shannon opened the door to Finn's bunker and pointed towards him.

"No fucking way." Five boys in the bunker looked up and saw Finn Hudson. They all jumped up and embraced their best mate.

"Finn! When did you arrive?"

"This morning actually." Finn smiled at his friend's warm welcome and followed them to the round table in the middle. There were cards lain askew on the table and cherished objects in the middle: poker.

"Jesus Hudson, look at you! Tanned, buff and handsome as always." His friends joked and sat around him.

"It's nice to see you guys too."

The army boys sat around and talked until midnight. They cracked open soft drinks, ate chips, joked around like boys do and finally sat back against the bunk beds.

"So how'd the Rachel Berry mission go?" Tommy asked

"That's kinda why I'm back here. I got fired actually by Hiram Berry."

Tommy and the boys sat up with a look of confusion on their faces.

"Wait what? Finn Hudson got _fired_ from a job? That's a sentence I never though I would say. Jeez, what happened?"

Finn sat in awkward silence.

"I slept with Rachel and Hiram viewed that as unprofessional and decided that because of my actions, I wouldn't be able to protect her."

His friends looked at each other before breaking into guffaws and laughs. Tommy slapped Finn on the shoulder.

"You sly dog! Getting some action with the director's daughter! My god, Finn Hudson has changed."

"Our boy has finally become a man."

Finn took a swig of his drink and chuckled at his friend's immaturity.

"Alright, alright. Back off." Finn chucked a chip at Tommy and Angus and leaned back against the bed. "It's nice to be back though."

Finn looked around and saw guns lying on the bed and duffle bags packed. His friends looked in Finn's direction and sighed.

"We have another tour in Syria. Angus and i have been training but we were wondering if you would like to come?"

Finn weighed his options. He didn't have anywhere else he needed to be and he was certainly happy to serve his country again on his third tour to Syria. Besides, Finn missed the thrill and the training.

"A lot of guys would really want you to come...to you know, protect their backs." Tommy added

"Sure, i'll come." Finn finally said and his mates all clapped with excitement. Suddenly, he felt pockets vibrate. Finn pulled out his phone and saw that it was Kurt. Finn stood up and walked outside to escape the loud noise of laughs and burps.

"Hey Kurt- whoa, calm down."

"Finn! They've got her. The Talisman have got Rachel. I didn't know who else to call. Please, you've gotta save her!"

"Rachel?" Finn felt his world collapse, the laughter behind him turned into distorted muffles and his breathing became short and choked. "What about you? Are you safe?"

"I made it out, I'm driving to Langley right now. But everyone's dead. The Talisman attacked: they took Rachel and shot Palmer."

Finn listened carefully, he pulled himself out of his trance and the strategist in him kicked in.

"What else Kurt?" He needed all the information he could get.

"Max is the traitor. He shot Palmer in cold blood Finn and he is with the Talisman. I need you here, there's no one else I can trust."

Finn rubbed his face. He needed to get to Langley but he didn't know how.

"Kurt, how long ago was this?"

"An hour ago."

"Okay, meet me in Langley. Don't worry…I'm coming."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

 **Location: unknown**

She felt a bump as the vehicle sped across the uneven road. She was paralysed. She couldn't move. All she could smell was the bitter aroma of tobacco and cigarettes. She heard men laughing and the clicking of guns but she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she was lying on the floor of a van...and being taken somewhere. Her vision was blurry...they gave her something...a sedative?

Wherever she was going...she prayed someone found her soon.

* * *

The moment Kurt hung up, Finn ran back into his bunker. He slammed the door open and startled his mates: but Finn didn't care. He ran to his bunk bed and pulled out his duffle. It had been one hour since Rachel's abduction: which hopefully meant the Talisman would still be on the road to their 'headquarters'. Finn needed to find Max and track down the extremist group in the next couple of hours otherwise he was going to lose Rachel…and Finn was never going to let them happen.

"Finn? What the hell is going on?"

"Can't talk right now Tommy." Finn emptied out his toiletries, dirty clothes and packed a flashlight and pocket knife. "Where's Shannon?" Finn asked his flustered friends.

"Beiste is at a meeting in Building C. What's this about?"

"I'll explain everything later." Finn slung his backpack and shut the door behind him, he sprinted through the army base towards Building C. Finn leapt up the stairs and smashed a door open: interrupting a meeting with the army's officials. He needed help, Finn needed to find a way to travel to Langley: driving to Virginia from Georgia would take at least nine hours and that was definitely not an option and additionally, Finn had no firearms. Sure he was skilful with a knife but bringing a knife to a potential gunfight with thousands of terrorists was…also not an option.

"Mr Hudson, we are in a private meeti-"

"Shannon, I need to talk to you...It's important." Finn interrupted and saw surprised faces staring at him.

"Finn?-" Shannon Beiste looked at the disapproving faces of her fellow officials and sighed, Finn wasn't the type to come bounding in like a headless chook if there wasn't something going on. She stood up and ushered him out of the door. She closed the door behind her and studied the tense features of her soldier.

"They got her Shannon. I have to go to Langley. Rachel's in trouble and I need to save her-" Finn ran a hand through his hair. "-but they took my gun away, I don't know how to get to Virginia-"

"Hey!" Shannon clapped and brought Finn out of his flustered trance. "Calm down, you work best when you've got your nerves in check okay. Alright, talk to me." Finn's mentor walked ahead and he explained everything to her as they walked away from Building C.

"I need a gun, all I've got is a pocket knife and a torch. I don't know what the Talisman have but they managed to destroy the neighbourhood and according to Kurt they had massive machine guns. My guess is that they are loaded with Carbine Commandos and Kalashnikovs."

"Hold on, you're not going to go bounding into terrorist territories are you?" Shannon gripped Finn's jacket and stared at him seriously.

"I don't know? Maybe? I don't really have a plan, i'm improvising as i go."

Shannon looked unsure at Finn's statement, she shook her head and continued running.

"I'm telling you now Finn, as resourceful as you are: you better have a plan. Their headquarters will be surrounded by these terrorists."

The two ran across the fields and walked down the steps towards the weaponry. Shannon unlocked the door and introduced Finn to the army base's weapon storage unit. Finn unzipped his bag and accepted five grenades from Shannon, Finn grabbed a black knife pouch and taped it around his ankle: he grabbed the pocket knife in his duffle and slipped it in the pouch as a backup weapon. Finn walked over and picked up a glock. Finn was about to stuff it behind his pants when he heard Shannon walk towards him.

"Are you an idiot Finn?"

"What?"

"This is the one you want." Shannon took a gun from the top shelf - it had a silver body with a slick amber grip - and handed it to Finn.

"It's a Ruger SR1911: lightweight, accurate and it provides a fast cycling. If you want to do some damage to those bastards that took your girl, take this."

Finn nodded and traded guns, Shannon walked over and unlocked a metal case. She grabbed two large guns and stuffed it in Finn's duffle.

"Shannon is that an AK-47 and an assault rifle?" Finn asked awestruck.

"If somehow...you find yourself alone and surrounded by thousands of terrorists, you _use_ these guns and shoot like there's no tomorrow."

Finn smiled and zipped up his bag. The two walked out of the weaponry and stood in the field.

"What else did you say you needed?" Beiste asked.

"A ride to Langley."

Shannon grinned and ran towards the carpark. She opened the boot to her Honda Civic and stuffed Finn's duffle inside.

"We-" Beiste said as she buckled herself in the car, "-are paying a little visit to the Lawson Army Airfield." The airfield was a military airport located at Fort Benning and was Fort Benning's primary Force Projection Platform: better yet, it was only a ten minute drive from the military base.

Finn buckled himself in and took a deep breath: he was thankfully making progress. Shannon sped and Finn had to grip the handlebars to prevent from flying off when they turned a corner. When he finally had the courage to look up, a massive grey airport stood proudly in front of him, military aircrafts were stationed at different hangars and Finn felt his heart skip a beat.

"Alright, come on Hudson. Keep up." Shannon was already out the door and running towards a small office at the Far East side of the airport. She knocked on the door and a suave looking man appeared. He wore a leather jacket and jeans, the man had grey hair, which was neatly combed back, blue eyes and a toothpick jammed between his teeth. The man was like an older version of Dewey.

"Finn meet Alistair. He owes me a couple of favours."

Alistair shook hands with Finn and took his toothpick out of his mouth.

"Ah Shannon, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He had a rough Scottish accent.

"You get to fly Finn to Virginia."

"Anything for you Shannon." Alistair flirted and finger gunned.

Alistair zipped up his leather jacket and placed a hand on Finn's back.

"Don't worry kid, I'll take great care of you."

Shannon walked up to Finn and embraced him. She was scared to see him go. She felt tears form in her eyes but she wasn't afraid to hide them.

"At least recruit a delta team or something."

"I'll try my best Shannon."

"There you go saving the day again," Shannon wiped her tears, "-you better survive this Hudson otherwise I'll kick your ass."

"I will Coach."

Shannon watched as Finn and Alistair ran to the jet. She had a deep sinking feeling in her heart that something was going to happen. She knew Finn too well to be absolutely certain that he would lay his life on the line to save this girl. All Shannon could do was hope and pray that Finn would make it out alive.

Finn placed the duffle bag on the ground of the plane and belted himself in. He actually hated planes, he hated the sinking feeling felt in the stomach when a plane dived but for once, Finn's mind was only occupied with thoughts about Rachel. He didn't even notice the plane taking off. It wasn't until he heard Alistair speak through the headgear that Finn realised he was airborne.

"So, what you gotta do in Virginia?"

"I need to go to Langley."

"To do what?"

Finn looked forward. "I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything…but so far I've had to deal with _so_ many traitors and deaths that I have to be really careful with who I can trust with information." Finn felt bad for saying that especially since Alistair willingly volunteered to fly him to Virginia but he knew he had done the right thing.

"You know what kid? I get it. I absolutely get it."

Alistair gave the okay gesture and smiled.

"Just sit tight for another half hour. We're nearly there."

Finn nodded and looked out the window. It was two o'clock and the sky was still pitch black. He was making good time but Finn still had a sinking feeling that Rachel was travelling further and further from him.

"Does Langley have a runway?" Finn asked.

"Shit. I didn't think about that."

"How are we going to land?"

Alistair laughed and turned around to face Finn.

"What?" Finn looked at Alistair's mischievous face, the old man was chuckling to himself.

"In the carpark."

Finn chuckled nervously, now he remembered why he hated planes. Disturbing thoughts entered his head: what would happen if they crashed into cars or the length of the carpark was too short to cater for the momentum of the landing plane.

"Alright, just make sure we don't die."

"You scared lad?" Alistair playfully mocked

"Is it bad if I say 'a little'?"

"Have you ever jumped out of a plane for a mission in the army?"

"Yeah."

"Finn, this will be a breeze. Who cares if we ruin a couple of Mercedes and Ferraris in the carpark? Let's have some fun before you go run off and save the day."

* * *

Half an hour had passed and after a couple of minutes of turbulence: the duo finally broke through the clouds and arrived in Virginia. Alistair let out a loud exhale and tightened the grip on the steering wheel.

"Let's land this baby."

Finn looked down and saw the CIA headquarters being illuminated by the surrounding lights. There weren't a lot of cars in the carpark and it was pretty lengthy meaning that it could actually serve as a runway. Alistair started to land the plane and Finn realised he was holding the edge of his seat tightly. The nose of the plane dipped down and the wheels were released from the plane's body.

"Let's hope we make it."

* * *

Kurt sat on the green leather seats in the reception waiting for Finn. His arrival at Langley was hectic to say the least. When he told Hiram what had happened, the director burst into action. He sent agents everywhere – some on the field, some to tracking and some to the bomb site. Kurt didn't tell Hiram about Finn of course, he couldn't. Finn would probably be the last person he wanted to see.

Hiram's world collapsed when he heard the news about Rachel: how could he let an incident like this slip from under his nose? Hiram brought Kurt over to the medical facility. He was checked over by the nurses and beside from a couple of bruises from the explosion and minor cuts, he was given the all clear. Kurt hadn't seen or heard from Hiram since then.

All Kurt could think about was Rachel, Palmer's bleeding body and Finn. Kurt hoped Finn would be here soon. Hiram didn't know about Max, the director thought the agent was dead: Kurt wanted to keep it that way. There could be other moles in the CIA and Finn was the only one he trusted with that kind of information.

He checked his watch and played around with his plastic cup. Feeling thirsty, Kurt walked over to the water dispenser situated next to the large windows. Kurt was about to turn back when he heard loud engines humming towards the carpark. He looked out of the window and saw the lights of a small jet flying towards the carpark. He dropped his cup and pressed his face against the window, the moment Kurt figured out who the passenger was: he felt hope again

* * *

Finn stepped off the plane, placed his weight on the jet's wheels and dry heaved: Alistair may be a talented pilot but boy was he reckless. Alistair walked over and laughed, he slapped Finn on the back and ruffled his hair playfully.

"All my passengers seem to do that. Hmm weird."

Finn reached for his duffle bag and shook hands with Alistair.

"Thanks Alistair."

"Back at you."

Finn turned around and sprinted towards Langley. The automatic doors opened and a tense environment immediately surrounded Finn. He knew everyone was working on the Rachel Berry case. People were running everywhere with folders in hands and making urgent phone calls to realise that Finn Hudson had trespassed in Langley.

"Finn!" Kurt ran over and hugged Rachel's former bodyguard. "Hiram's on the fourth floor."

"No, there's no time for that. I need a computer."

Kurt informed him that there were free computers on the third floor. He was having a walk around Langley and realised that room 303 was not in use. Finn thanked him, gave Kurt his duffle to mind and leapt through the security doors.

"Finn wait."

"What?"

"Hiram doesn't know about Max. Use that to your advantage."

Finn nodded and pushed open the fire exit doors and bounded up the stairs Finn made it to room 303 and locked himself in. By that time, a couple of security guards had already caught wind of Finn's appearance and had begun to chase after him with Tasers in hand.

Finn turned on the computer and rolled his sleeves.

"Think, Finn, Think." Finn opened the CIA's tracking software and typed Max's name in.

'What's his first name?' Finn was told of the agent's full name when he was first briefed but since the other agents called themselves by their last, the name went right over his head. Wasting valuable time, Finn scoured through every agent with the last name Max until he found Max's profile: The agent's trackname was C6490CE.

Finn heard pounding on the door and realised the security guards had found him. He quickly typed the name into the computer and searched, he waited in suspense until it zoomed into a location on a map. The tracker wasn't moving, Max was alone and appeared to be in a warehouse. It looked as if he had parted from the Talisman to come to the warehouse.

'Weird.' Finn thought, he wrote down the coordinates and exited the database. Suddenly, the locked door was smashed open and he felt two large hands grab him from behind and pull him away from the computers. The security guards cornered Finn and parted when Hiram Berry walked in. Finn quickly slipped the coordinates into his pockets and waited for the director to come in.

"What the devil are you doing here?"

"Listen Hiram, I know you _hate_ me right now. But you gotta let me go. Rachel is in trouble and I think I'm on the right track-" Finn walked forwards but one of the security guards pushed him back. Finn looked up and saw Jackson standing in the doorway, he had his hands in his pocket and he wasn't his usual immaculate self. Finn decided that Jackson was mourning the loss of Palmer: the two agents were quite close.

"I have helicopters, jets and thousand upon thousands of agents covering every square millimetre of this goddam state. How is one man going to outdo the work of these agents?"

Finn stared Hiram in the eye. The director doesn't know about Max and judging by how many traitors Finn had come in contact with the past few months, it was safer to keep it that way. Hiram was wasting Finn's time. Finn studied the security guards, they were bigger and much more muscular than he was and judging by their thick legs: they were _probably_ much slower. Feeling mischievous, Finn ducked down, slid out between the legs of one of the security guards and bolted for the door. Surprisingly Jackson stepped out of the way and patted him on the back. It was a quick touch and Finn thought nothing of it. He had his eye on the exit.

"Let him go!" Hiram stopped the security guards and placed his arms on his hips. "My daughter is first priority, once we locate her. We'll arrest that Hudson kid." The security guards nodded and walked downstairs to resume their posts. Jackson walked in and stood in front of Hiram.

"Why didn't you stop him." Hiram gave Jackson a quick shove and held his hand out in confusion.

"I think Finn may be on to something. Maybe for once, we should listen to him."

"No. I'm sticking to gut. I will put my trust in the people who have worked for me for years...not some twenty-something army man."

Hiram walked past Jackson and continued his tracking leaving the CIA agent alone in room 303.

Down in reception, Kurt saw Finn jump down the flight of stairs and run towards him.

"I need a car." He said as he took the duffle from Kurt's hands.

"Number plate XJJ-5753. It's a grey range rover." Kurt shoved the car keys into Finn's hands and watched him as he sprinted towards the car.

"Don't worry Kurt, I'll bring her back." Finn assured and pumped his legs towards the carpark. He swung the duffle on the passenger seat and placed the keys in the ignition. He accelerated and sped out of the carpark, pressing the coordinates into the tracker Finn followed the directions to Max. Finn looked at his rear view mirror and caught Alistair taking off in the distance.

'Fly safe big guy,' Finn thought and brought his attention towards the road. Finn followed the GPS and sped up. He turned on the news on the radio and listened for new potential Intel he could use.

 _This just in. Absolute chaos as Virginia is now on high terrorist alert. The extremist group called The Talisman have now run rampage on the streets: bombing a secret government estate. The Talisman have taken CIA Director, Hiram Berry's daughter hostage and her status remains unknown. Currently, over five hundred central intelligence agents are confirmed dead and a further fifty are critically injured._

 _We have also received notice from the director of the CIA himself for civilians to be wary of a man by the name of Finn Hudson. Mr Hudson has brown hair, brown eyes and is six foot three. He was last seen wearing jeans, a white shirt and a black jacket._

Finn tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in disbelief. 'Hiram, get you head out of the friggin gutter' he thought. Finn couldn't believe what it had come to:terrorists were now running free and causing so much damage. Rachel Berry was caught in the middle of all this devastation and Finn needed to quicken his pace. Finn swerved right and drove a further two hundred metres before he became face to face a large white warehouse.

'Why do terrorists love warehouses so much.' Finn thought to himself and unzipped his duffle. He needed to save the assault rifle and AK-47 so Finn took his Ruger. He tested it out by pointing the gun away from his body and felt the weight in his hands. Finn opened the car door and quietly walked towards the white building. He held the gun out in front and quietened his breathing and footsteps. The air was chilly and he could feel the wind burning his cheeks.

Finn heard a metallic twang and he brought his attention to the right. Finn walked further and took cover behind the wall, in the distance Finn saw a short male hunched over a medium seized device.

'Max.' Finn seethed and walked forward with his gun pointing at the traitor. Just when Finn thought he had the upper hand, Max turned around and pointed his gun at Finn. It became a deadly stand-off.

"Why if it isn't Finn Hudson?"

Finn remained quiet and continued pointing his gun at Max.

"Don't you want to ask me what I'm building?" Max laughed and stepped out of the way for Finn to see the device. He slid in front of the table and secretly pushed a button underneath.

"You're building a bomb." Finn kept the gun trained on the agent.

"Smart man. You see, after Berry intercepted my boss' nuclear weapons. He asked me to build him a new one and he offered a fuck tonne of money for its invention."

"You betrayed your country for money." Finn scoffed. "That's a new low." Now Finn realised why Max had parted from the van holding Rachel Berry. This was his real mission all along: to get Finn fired, take Rachel hostage and build a new bomb for President Udfar.

Finn heard Max take off his gun's safety and without a second to lose, he grabbed a nearby wrench and flung the gun out of Max's hand. His gun dropped to the floor but Max managed to kick Finn's kneecap during the process. Finn dropped to the floor and scrambled for his gun. Max fired the first bullets and Finn quickly crawled over to take over behind a table.

The bullets pierced the table but luckily it was thick enough to prevent Finn from getting hit. Finn heard Max reload and took his chance to fire a shot, a bullet pierced Max's foot and he howled in pain. Max reloaded and Finn counted Max's bullets as they smashed against the table. Max was bound to be out soon. Finn reached over to his pocket to retrieve more bullets but he felt a devastating flatness in his jeans.

"Shit." Finn swore and realised he had left his reloads in the car. Max appeared over the table and Finn chucked his Ruger at Max's face, clipping his cheekbone and causing a nasty cut to surface. Finn jumped up and tackled the traitor to the ground, knocking the gun out of Max's hand for the second time. The two males struggled on the dirt caked ground: both grabbing the other's shirt and punching their opponent in the gut.

Finn managed to get the upper hand and shove Max on the bottom.

"Tell me where Rachel is!" Finn shouted through gritted teeth, it was an immense effort keeping Max pinned under him. Max laughed and right hooked Finn, his ring collided with Finn's lips causing a tear: blood dripped down Finn's chin and stained the top of his shirt. Finn lost his grip and felt Max's hands envelop around his face. Finn received a knee in the groin and doubled over as the pain rocketed through his stomach and crotch. He dropped to the floor and felt Max's knuckles collide with the bone above his eye. Finn groaned and rolled to his side in pain, he coughed and felt around his jeans for a weapon.

With his gun nowhere to be seen, Finn was desperate. Suddenly, he remembered the pocketknife taped to his shin. Finn reached down and pulled out his knife, he saw Max run towards him with a gun his hand. Breathing in, Finn felt everything move in slow motion. Finn held his arm up and chucked the knife like a spear towards Max, the knife soared though the air and stabbed Max in the stomach. The traitor fell on his knees immediately.

Finn collapsed and took a second to breathe. He crawled over to Max, pulled out his knife and frisked the body, Finn pulled out a phone and slid it in his pocket. Perhaps, he could track Udfar using Max's phone. Finn stood up and stumbled over to the far side of the warehouse and picked up his Ruger, he didn't want to look back at Max. Finn wasn't afraid to kill for a cause but deaths still took a heavy toll on him.

Just as Finn was about to walk out he heard a gunshot and felt his body jerk. He felt an excruciating pain in his waist and turned around. Max had propped himself on his elbow, blood spilled from his lips and Finn realised it was taking every strength the agent still had in him to speak.

"An eye for an eye, Finn. See. You. In. Hell."

Finn felt beads of sweat form on his back and forehead. His hands became clammy and trembled slightly. He looked down and saw a pool of blood staining his shirt and dripping all the way to his jeans.

Finn had been shot.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

A loud beep was heard around the van. A couple of the Talisman agents looked up at James who held his phone in front of him. James squinted and frowned at the message. It was sent by Max forty-five minutes ago, James realised it was a tape recording: he turned up the volume and pressed play. A couple of the other Talisman agents leaned over to his seat and listened.

" _Don't you want to ask me what I'm building?"_

" _You're building a bomb."_

James looked at his surrounding comrades.

"Max sent me this…Is that Finn Hudson?" James asked and the Talisman agents looked at one another with surprised looks on their faces.

"If it is..that means Finn has found the hidden bomb and knows about Max."

" _You betrayed your country for money. That's a new low."_ Gunshots succeeded the dialogue for several minutes. Kicks, groans and ricocheting bullets could be heard from the speakers and finally the sound of ripped flesh and a solo gunshot became audible. A few moments later, a single sentence rocked the entire van.

" _An eye for an eye, Finn. See you in hell."_

No other sound blasted through the speakers except for the shuffling of footsteps, the agents in the car stared at the phone with anger erupting from them. They knew what had happened; they knew what Finn had done.

"Max is dead." James said and chucked his phone violently to the side. "That Finn Hudson will pay. I'm going to fire a full magazine into his fucking head just like I did to Andreas!"

The Talisman agents chuckled and stared at Rachel who was still unconscious on the ground. After a few minutes of tense silence, one of the Talisman agents spoke up: "He got shot didn't he? Max fired a bullet at that bastard."

James frowned and turned towards the man.

"What are you getting at?" James asked with a furrowed brow.

"It means that Finn _has_ to be wounded. Why don't we send a couple of our agents to track him down and finish him off? He couldn't have gone too far from the site."

James grinned and nodded. He reached for his walkie-talkie and leaned back feeling proud of himself. James called in the driver of the last van and smiled maliciously.

"I have a new mission for you. Track down Finn Hudson and kill him."

"Where should we start?"

"Go to Max's warehouse and start from there…look for…a blood trail or wheel tracks."

James turned around and saw the van stop in its tracks and reverse back around. It drove in the opposite direction towards the warehouse and all James could do was fantasize about his comrades torturing the hell out of Rachel's bodyguard.

* * *

Finn closed his eyes.

"No." He clutched his waist with one hand and walked out of the warehouse. The blood pooled around the stairs and caused Finn to slip, he tumbled down violently and crashed in a heap on the ground. Putting all his weight on the adjacent wall, Finn stood up and walked towards his car with his upper half crouched over. He placed the Ruger on the adjacent seat and started the car: the engine roared to life.

Finn kept one hand pressed against the wound: he was losing blood fast and he needed to find a way to stop the bleeding. He looked over to the GPS system built into the car, Finn pressed in the directions towards the nearest convenience store. He gripped the steering wheel tight with his blood stained hand and accelerated. Finn felt warm liquid ooze through his hands and his vision became blurry. His light-headedness clouded his senses and all Finn could do was shake his head and forcefully concentrate on the road ahead. Nausea kicked in and Finn felt his body break into cold sweat: he inhaled and exhaled and focused on his breathing to minimise the pain but it was no good.

In the army, they taught him how to withstand pain and torture. Finn had a high pain tolerance but still, he was still human and having a bullet wedged between flesh and muscle only increased the pain. He needed to find a way to get rid of the bullet and fast.

His cell phone rang and Finn answered the call on loud speaker: it was Kurt.

"Now's not a good time Kurt." Finn groaned.

"Finn, you sound hurt. What happened?" Back at Langley, Kurt Hummel gripped the phone and pressed his ear tight against the device: his heart pounded.

"Max shot me…" There was silence as Kurt's breathing stopped. All he could do was imagine Finn lying in a ditch somewhere. "Hey, listen to me Kurt, in case I don't make it tell Hiram there's a bomb in a white warehouse at 16 George Avenue and…I have Max's phone which he could use to track down the Talisman's hideout."

"Finn-"

"What?"

"I'm not going to tell Hiram that."

"Kurt, you have to. Plea-"

"I'm not going to tell Hiram because you are _Finn Hudson_ and _you_ are going to survive this. You'll find a way."

Even though Kurt couldn't see, Finn nodded and hung up. He placed more pressure on his wound and accelerated.

The GPS beeped and Finn swerved the car to the left. In front of him stood a small convenience store: it was one of those twenty four-seven stores that open for backpackers or roadtrips and oh boy was Finn grateful. He drove the car to the side of the road and stumbled towards the store. The moment he climbed out of the car, Finn realised how weak his legs had become. He pushed open the door and met a couple of shocked hikers who were purchasing some goods and stocking up.

Even with blurry vision and an excruciating headache, Finn knew the hikers were probably all horrified to see a pale man covered in blood, stumbling into a shop. Finn looked over at the fishing line, scissors and tweezers and decided that he could remove the bullet and stitch himself up with the fishing line and needle. Finn walked over to the shelf and grabbed a towel, a large bandage and a water bottle. The shop owner watched as Finn painfully staggered towards the checkout table.

"Sir, we need to get you to a hospital."

"No…no. Please…just pass these through." Finn pushed the items towards the scanner and placed his weight on the bench. He couldn't believe that even though he was moments away from dying, Finn still had the courtesy to pay, he would laugh if he wasn't in pain.

"Just take them." The shop owner winced as he caught sight of Finn's large blood stain. "I'm going to call the ambulanc-"

"No." Finn ripped the phone out of the shop owner's hands. As much as he would love to go to hospital, Finn couldn't waste any more time.

Walking slowly towards his car, Finn dropped the items on the ground and searched in his duffle for the flash light. He held the torch between his teeth and rolled up his shirt: the wound was aggressive and Finn knew he had to work fast before his body shut down. Finn grabbed the water bottle, scrunched his face and poured the liquid over his wound: a white hot sting ate at his waist. Finn dabbed the bloody area with the towel and placed pressure on the wound as he grabbed the tweezers in one hand. Finn knew the dangers of removing bullets from a body but he had no choice. Using his fingers to locate the bulge in his waist, Finn was relieved to feel that the bullet was close to the surface.

Finn held his breath and with shaking fingers, dug the tweezers into the wound. He groaned and winced and tried his best to make as little noise as possible but the pain was agonising. Finn felt tears build in his eyes and he choked, sweat poured down his face as the tweezers enveloped around the bullet.

"Come on." Finn grunted and finally lifted the tweezers. He grasped the bullet in his hand and threw it away. Stitching was easier, he was halfway done when Finn heard a van coming his way. He turned his neck around and felt his heart sink: The Talisman were here.

'How did they find me?' Finn quickly grabbed his Ruger and three full magazines before rolling under his Range Rover to prevent detection. He stifled a cry when his half sutured wound scraped against the ground. He tried to quieten his breathing as boots landed on the ground. Tilting his head to the side, Finn counted the Talisman terrorists. There were five surrounding his car.

"He's here. Finn Hudson is here." Finn saw a terrorist crouch down to pick up the scissors and bloody tweezers that were left on the ground. Two other agents joined him and without a second to lose, Finn rolled over to the left and fired three bullets into the heads of the three men. Finn quickly crawled out and immediately faced another insurgent, the terrorist's aim was off and Finn managed to shoot a bullet in the man's leg and neck. Four down, one to go.

Suddenly, Finn felt a body fall on him. The last terrorist had climbed on his car and tackled him to the ground. Finn's body slammed onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. This wasn't his lucky day. The terrorist's knee pinned his wound and Finn could only choke in pain. The man's two hands strangled his neck and squeezed hard: Finn was suffocating.

Desperately, Finn's hands scrambled for a weapon: his gun was knocked too far away. He vision grew darker with each struggle and he felt himself letting go. The lights in his eyes grew dimmer and dimmer. Suddenly, Finn's right hand found a large rock and with all his diminishing strength, he smashed it against his attacker's face. He blocked out the crunch and closed his eyes.

Finn lost count of the many blows he dealt. He thought back to high school, never in a million years would he have imagined himself in the future, lying on the ground half dead smashing a man's face in. He knew it was over once he felt the terrorist fall on his torso. Finn pushed the dead body aside and lied on the ground trying to catch his breath. He lifted his head and saw that he was losing a lot of blood from his wound due to his increasing heart rate.

"Get up Finn. Shit. Get up."

Finn balled his hands into a fist and smashed it against the ground in frustration. He tried to lift himself up but he was too weak to sit up, he tried to lift his head once more but the blurriness had already taken over his senses. Just as Finn was about a to pass out, he saw a black car come into view and a tall man rushing to his side. He felt two warm fingers touch the side of his neck and moments before darkness: Finn felt the man's ear press against his chest.

* * *

 _Lima, Ohio_

August 2009

Nineteen-year-old Finn sat on the couch with his foot tapping the ground noisily. After a year of doing nothing after graduation, Finn believed he had found his life's true calling. He was sick was doing nothing, his mother sat by his side every night trolling through thousands of career websites for him, but it was only a waste of time. After coming across his dad's army helmet and uniform, Finn knew there was only one career path that was destined for him: the army.

Finn looked into the kitchen and saw his mother walking out with two plates of spaghetti. She placed the plates on the dining table and called Finn to dinner. He took a seat and nervously twirled his fingers.

Carole looked at a son: "I talked to a couple of my friends today about careers…what do you think abou-"

"Mum." Finn interrupted and finally looked up at his mother.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

"I need to tell you something but please don't freak out…it's about my future."

Carole put down her fork and listened attentively.

Finn took a deep breath, "I want to join the army."

Carole's mouth dropped and she sat back in her chair, shaking her head. Her face became blotchy and Finn caught two tears stream down her face.

"I should have known. Finn…please-" She leaned forward and held Finn's hand in her own. "I can't bear to lose more of my loved ones to war."

"Mom, I know the army is nothing like the games. It's not like I'm joining so I could shoot people. I want to do something that will make a difference you know? I want to do _something_ that helps people. I'm joining for myself and…for dad." Finn shrugged. He saw his mother furrow her brow when he mentioned his dad.

"I need to change his status mom, I won't stand by and let it define him. He was a hero…did you know he pulled soldiers from a burning truck in Kuwait? He did so many amazing things…but the one thing people are going to remember him for was his overdose and dishonourable discharge."

Carole left her seat and walked over to her son. She had never felt more proud, she cupped Finn's face in her hands and embraced him. Her tears fell on his shirt but he didn't care.

"I am so proud of you Finn. I couldn't have asked for a better son."

"Thanks mom."

"Just promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me that you will return, promise me that whatever adversity you face: you will overcome them and find a way out. Never give up Finn and find a way out."

* * *

Was he dead? It sure felt like he was.

Finn slowly opened his eyes and shifted his head slightly. He felt his hands twitch and brought his fingers towards his bullet wound. He expected stickiness from the blood and a long piece of unstitched fishing line but there wasn't. Finn slowly trailed his fingers up his waist and felt a fully stitched up wound, there was no more blood and funnily enough, he felt a cotton fabric: was that a bandage?

"Oh thank god."

Finn turned towards the voice and after a couple of seconds of blurry vision due to his grogginess, he saw a man sitting next to him.

"Jackson?"

"Nice to see that you're still alive."

Finn felt a slight pinch in his left arm and realised there were two tubes connected to his vein and the inside of his elbow. He looked up and saw that he was connected to an IV drip and a blood bag which were both hung on a car door handle.

"How long was I out for?"

"Forty-five minutes."

Finn sat up, pulled the blanket away from his body and leaned his back against the car, he started to pull out the tubes and felt Jackson rush to his side immediately.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy there Hudson."

"Can you get these off please?" Finn rubbed his temple and stumbled on his feet. He felt Jackson carefully disconnect Finn to the IV and blood and after that walked over to pick up his discarded Ruger from the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"I've wasted too much time. I need to find Rachel."

"Slow down Finn! You're wounded and severely dehydrated, not to mention you just merely survived death. Talk to me…what do you need?"

"Time Jackson! I need time!" Finn blurted.

"Okay! I can't stop or rewind time but I can offer my assistance. I concede, I have been a bit of an ass to yo-"

"A bit?" Finn chuckled

"A big ass okay. Truth is, I like Rachel and I was just jealous of you."

"Jealous of me? You're one of the best CIA operatives in the whole country and you were jealous of some 'bloke' from the army?" Finn realised how raspy and hoarse his voice was and coughed

"Yes."

Jackson walked over to Finn and draped the blanket over his shoulders. The agent sighed and continued speaking.

"We got off to a _really, really_ bad start. I thought I was the top dog and didn't want anyone else stealing my glory. I made your life a living hell and if you don't want to forgive me, then I understand but I'm really sorry Finn. Truly." Jackson turned to Finn, "You're clearly the better man."

After a couple of seconds of silence, Finn spoke.

"How did you find me anyway?"

"I placed a tracker on you when you were running out of room 303, you probably felt a tap on your back. When you were _bickering_ with Hiram, I realised that you were right about Max."

"Kurt told me about him."

Jackson scoffed: "It all makes sense now, he only joined Palmer and I to get closer to Rachel."

"Hiram trusted him though. He told Max about the bomb site where Dewey was murdered. Apparently, only a couple of agents were told: Hiram stuffed up big time there." Finn walked over to the Talisman's van and stepped inside, he looked around and found nothing apart from a few wrappers and empty bullet shells.

Jackson followed Finn into the vans and stood by the door, the agent crossed his arms and shook his head in confusion:

"Hold on, Hiram never told Max anything. I was the only agent he told about the bomb site. How did Max know about it?" Jackson said and looked at Finn, "Fuck, The Talisman told him about the site didn't they."

"And in turn, Max told Palmer to tell me." Finn inputted

"…And by doing so, you would leave Rachel Berry so he could tell Hiram about your 'unprofessionalism' and how you…you know…slept with her."

Finn chuckled softly.

"What?" Jackson asked

"I thought _you_ ratted us out to Hiram."

The agent crossed his arms and exhaled loudly.

"I went with Max. He told me that he knew a way to get you fired. I guess I was just so 'willing' to see you gone that the first chance I saw to mess you up…I took it."

Finn nodded understandably, suddenly his brain clicked and Finn stood up, ignoring the sudden throb in his head.

"How did the Talisman know about the bomb site in the first place? Dewey was on a secret tactical mission, that means that only Hiram himself knew about it." Finn said.

"…And the members of Dewey's team."

"Jackson, do you think there was a traitor in his team? Someone who was actually a Talisman agent pretending to work for the CIA?"

Jackson racked his brain, "Riccardo, Steven, Ben and Dewey died in the warehouse…that only leaves James. James's body was never recovered."

Jackson and Finn stared at each other. They worked out something game-changing and Finn couldn't sit by and converse any longer. He walked over to the Range Rover and pulled out the phone he uncovered from Max's dead body.

"This is Max's phone. If we can call Udfar, I think we would be able to track the call and figure out where their base is located."

Finn ran over to his Range Rover and opened the door. He pulled out his duffle and threw it into the van.

"I bet the Talisman won't mind if I steal their van." Finn said and turned the keys in the ignition.

"Good call. That way you'll be able to blend in if you meet them on the road."

Finn turned around and placed his arm on the headrest. "Thanks for saving my life."

"You'll need someone on the inside. I think I can hack into one of the computers back at Langley and track the call. I can use the satellite map and track your movements to and be the extra eyes on the road. You can't do this alone Finn."

Finn shook hands with Jackson and the CIA agent handed Finn an ear piece for communication. Jackson climbed into his car and drove away. Finn heard Jackson's voice through the ear piece.

"Head down the single road for the time being. Give me five minutes to get back to Langley then make the call."

The engine roared to life as Finn accelerated down the road: further from Langley but closer to Rachel.

* * *

"How long until we arrive at base?" James asked with annoyance. He had tried calling his fellow comrades to see whether they had managed to kill Finn yet, but no one was answering. James stood up and brought his fist down on the seat.

"Fuck!" James seethed: anger and wrath overwhelmed him. Finn killed his men, he was starting to deeply regret his underestimation.

He walked over and tightened the cuffs holding Rachel Berry to vent his anger. She was starting to stir and wake up so James walked to the back of the van and sat in the seat in front.

Rachel's eyes flashed open. It took only a few second before she realised what had happened and where she was. She remembered Palmer standing in front of her and Max holding a gun to her head, Rachel looked up and saw a man staring at her with a grin on his face. She backed away towards the corner and tugged on her cuffs.

"Did you have a good sleep?" James taunted. Rachel looked away. She thought about Finn and remembered that he was in Fort Benning. He would have no idea about her capture…she was alone. Her eyes became wet, she wanted Finn desperately, she wanted to be in his embrace and she wanted him to come save her.

"Don't cry Ms Berry, we aren't going to kill you…yet."

Rachel Berry looked around. Where was Max?, Who was this man talking to her right now?

"Let me introduce myself, I'm James. Hmm, let's see, what can I tell you about myself? Oh, I'm with the Talisman, I kidnapped you and I killed Dewey Andreas." Rachel gasped. This man in front of her killed Finn's best friend?

"Talking about killing-" James moved and kneeled beside Rachel. "-Did you know your bodyguard killed a Talisman agent today? He stabbed Max."

'Finn is coming for me?' Rachel thought to herself and finally felt a sliver of hope.

"But guess what sweetie, Finn's wounded. Pretty boy got shot, I wouldn't be surprised if he is lying in a ditch someone and drowning in his own blood. You're all alone Rachel. No one's coming for you." James spat and shoved Rachel violently before standing up and walking back to his seat.

Rachel turned her head to the side and cried. Everything around her collapsed, she tried her best to stifle her sobs but her tears fell uncontrollably.

"Please be okay Finn. Please be okay."

* * *

Back in Langley, Kurt paced backwards and forwards across the reception. The last thing he heard from Finn was that he got shot, Kurt clutched his phone and stared at the notification screen every second to make sure he wouldn't miss any of Finn's call. Weirdly enough, he also saw Jackson rush out of headquarters holding a first aid kit and a couple bags of blood and an IV drip. He was going after Finn wasn't he?

Suddenly, the doors to Langley opened and in walked Jackson. The agent was flustered, his arms were covered in dried blood and his white shirt was now stained red. Many of the other agents stared at him as he rushed up the stairs towards Room 303. Frowning, Kurt decided to follow Jackson. He turned a corner a couple of seconds after Jackson turned and continued his stalking. Just as Kurt was beginning to think he could make a great spy, Jackson stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"I know you were following me Kurt." Kurt lifted an eyebrow and rushed into Room 303 with Jackson.

"You went after Finn didn't you? H-h-how is he? Is he okay? He's not dead righ-"

"He's fine. We're hot on the Talisman's trail."

Jackson gestured for Kurt to lock the door and he obeyed. The agent pressed his ear piece and spoke.

"Okay Finn, I made it back to Langley. I'm tracking you on the map now."

Kurt immediately rushed to Jackson.

"Is that Finn? Thank god he's okay." Kurt breathed a sigh of relief and Jackson laughed at him.

"Alright, I see you." Jackson observed the white circle moving along the road on the map. He zoomed out and felt his heart skip a beat.

"Finn, I don't think you need to call Udfar anymore."

"Why?"

"Because I see five vans two hundred metres from you and I will bet my life, Rachel is in one of those vans."

* * *

Finn accelerated, two hundred metres wasn't that far ahead. His breathing quickened and adrenaline coursed through his body. He had finally caught up with the Talisman and he was ready to fight to save his girl. Finn reached behind him and pulled the duffle towards him. With one hand on the steering wheel, Finn loaded his Ruger and took out the assault rifle. He pressed his ear piece:

"How would I know which van Rachel is in?"

"Looking at the map, the four vans seem to be protecting the middle van. My guess is that Rachel Berry is in there. Hold on-"

"What?"

"They're starting to slow down."

"Wh-"

A showering of bullets pelted Finn's car, Finn shrunk down and saw five terrorists holding their guns out of their windows.

"Jackson, we have a problem! They know I'm in the van. They must have worked out that I killed the passengers."

"Fuck. Okay new plan. Do you have a RPG or grenade or something?"

"Yes, I've got five grenades."

"Great! Alright listen carefully! Accelerate and drive alongside the van shooting at you. Find a way to throw a grenade into their van. You have to do this in four hundred metres so you can take a right into Jones Street in order to distance yourself from the explosion. Finn, I promise you, Rachel is not in this van."

Finn grabbed a grenade and held it in his left hand. He rolled down the window and stepped on the pedal. The car roared and jerked as it sped faster towards the last van. Finn jerked left and right as the bullets pelted the front of the car, he was now adjacent to the van and leaned back against the seat to shield himself from the bullets. He pulled the clip from the grenade and pegged it into the van, he heard the terrorists scream when they realised there was a bomb in their car. Finn turned a sharp right into Jones Street. A line of houses blocked his left side view but the loud explosion of the van could still be heard.

"Good job, I lost the signal for that van. One down, four to go."

Finn wiped the sheen of sweat from his forehead and turned left so he was now trailing behind the vans once more.

The Talisman and Finn now drove on a highway, the road was wider so he was able to accelerate beside the vans. Suddenly, the two vans in front of Finn blocked his path and prevented him from reaching Rachel. One van turned right and parted from the other vans.

"Finn, I think Rachel's on that vehicle."

"Yeah, I think so too, " Finn turned his head and saw Rachel's van travel down the adjacent highway. "Jackson, I'm sandwiched between two bloody Talisman vehicles!"

"Give me a second!" Jackson zoomed out and realised that the highway was coming to an end but the last couple of metres was a sharp turn to the right and the speed at which Finn and the two vans were going would result in a crash.

"I think I know how to make the two vans next to you crash. There's a sharp left coming up in one hundred and twenty metres, make sure that before you turn, you brake."

Finn saw Rachel's van become a small speck in the distance and smashed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration. He was so close to her. Finn saw the turn and stepped on the brake, the wheels screeched in resistance and came to a halt. The two Talisman vans missed the turn and crashed into the fence surrounding the highway, the cars blew up and sent metal debris flying into the air. Finn accelerated again.

"I need you to find me a way to get on the same road as Rachel."

"Turn into West Street and that road will lead you straight into Rachel's highway."

Finn looked at his GPS and figured that West Street was still a couple of metres away, he needed to get rid of the first van in front of him before he could turn. He gripped the assault rifle and pointed it towards the van in front and fired.

* * *

Jackson sat back and let out a loud exhale. Kurt was stressed as well; he was sitting on the floor with his sleeves rolled up. He wasn't able to take part in the communication behind Finn and Jackson but still, the dialogue between the two was exhilarating as hell. One minute Jackson would be telling Finn to take a left and the next Finn would be told to chuck a grenade through a window. It was insane! He prayed for Rachel though, Finn was tough and even though Rachel was a fighter, she was sensitive. She wouldn't be able to handle the adversity she would face with the Talisman. Hell, Finn just got shot and nearly died and look at him now.

Kurt ran a hand through his hair, he needed to do something productive and helpful.

"Do you want a coffee?"

"Yeah thanks Kurt."

Kurt opened the door and saw two black leather boots standing in the doorway, he looked up and was face-to-face with one Hiram Berry.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Hiram walked in and Jackson stood up in shock. The Director had dark circles around his eyes, his hair was dishevelled and his clothes were all tucked out and wrinkled. The man was a mess. Hiram walked over to the computer and stared at it.

"Jackson! Are you still there?"

Finn was talking into the ear piece but Jackson couldn't answer him. Hiram was staring him down and expecting an answer.

"What are you doing? Are you talking to Finn Hudson?"

Jackson scoffed and walked forward.

"Alright that's it, you need to get something through your head really quick! Finn Hudson is your only shot at getting Rachel back. He has more talent and skill than all of the whole fucking CIA put together. Did you know that Max shot him? Max was a traitor, Hiram, and he figured it out before you. He would do anything for Rachel, I found him lying on the ground drowning in a pool of his own blood and that hasn't stopped him. Right now, he is right on Rachel's trail and currently in a gunfight with the people who took your daughter. WAKE UP HIRAM!" Jackson raged and Hiram was left speechless, "…with all due respect." Jackson added.

Hiram walked over to the phone and dialled a number.

"This is Hiram Berry, I want to call off the arrest for Finn Hudson. Instead, I want all personnel and operatives to follow Finn Hudson. He is on pursuit and could really use some reinforcements. I'm sending you all the coordinates now." Hiram hung up and clapped Jackson on the arm.

"Make sure Finn makes it out alive."

The Director walked out leaving Jackson and Kurt in the room together.

"You heard all of that didn't you Finn." Jackson asked and returned to the computer.

"Yep."

"Alright, how's it going?"

"I'm shooting at them, they're shooting at me."

Finn's arm was sore, he had a massive cramp in his shoulder. Finn had been holding the assault rifle out the window for half an hour; it felt heavier with each passing minute.

Just as Finn pointed the gun towards the van's wheels, one of the terrorists did the same. The two fired at the same time. The bullet pierced the front wheel and Finn felt his van lurch forward, the Talisman's vehicle exploded in front of him but he wasn't ready to celebrate. Finn's van was now somersaulting on the road, the airbags blew up in his face and the impact of the car on the road shook Finn. His seatbelt burnt the side of his neck and the glass from the windows were shattering into a million pieces around him.

Finn groaned and grunted as he felt the car lift and smash on the ground continuously. He closed his eyes and gripped the wheel tightly until his knuckles became white.

The car finally came to a stop and screeched as it scraped along the ground. Finn let his head roll to one side and quickly unbuckled his belt. He dropped to the floor and crawled out of the car, he looked at his hands and saw aggressive scratches and cuts from the glass. His head had a huge bruise and blood dripped from the bone above his eye.

"Jackson." Finn coughed.

"Are you okay!? What the hell happened!?"

"They shot my wheel, I crashed the car and…I lost Rachel."

* * *

Author's note: This was probably the most action packed chapter i've ever written. Hope you enjoyed! Chapter 13 coming soon :)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

"FINN!" Rachel pressed herself against the back window. Even with the cuffs scraping painfully against her skin, Rachel needed to see, she needed to see if Finn made it out alive. She was moving further and further from him, he was in pursuit of her and heavily outnumbered: it was him against four other vans. The last thing she heard was a loud explosion and the sound of a crashing car. Her hands shook with deep anxiety; he was so close to her. Finn was turning into a small speck in the background after her van turned into another highway.

 _NO_

Rachel tugged at her cuffs and scrunched her face as tears fell down her cheeks. She dropped her arms to the side in defeat, slumped back against the van's wall and curled into a ball

James screamed and punched his fist into the windows, causing a small crack to appear. He tensed his throbbing knuckles and turned his attention back to Rachel. How the hell was Finn still alive? He sent a whole van full of Talisman terrorists to take out one man and that man was still alive. James' comrades had one job to do – kill and potentially torture Finn Hudson- and they failed to do so. James had no remorse for his fellow terrorists if they were dead: he showed no sympathy for those who fail him.

Walking towards Rachel, James grabbed her hair and swung her head towards the car wall, he leaned over and grabbed Rachel's neck tightly and whispered into her ear.

"I'm going to tear Finn apart and break every limb on his _fucking_ body." James enunciated every word and tightened his grip around his captive's neck. Udfar's beef was with Hiram and Rachel but James wanted Finn. Rachel's bodyguard had caused so much damage: he had figured out and ruined all their plans and he was not dead. Whatever happened, James was going to kill Finn.

Mustering enough courage, Rachel spat at James' face. The last thing she felt before blacking out was a steel fist colliding with her jaw.

* * *

"They shot my wheel, I crashed the car… and I lost Rachel." Finn ran a hand through his hair and tore off a segment of fabric from his already bloodstained t-shirt to stem the bleeding from his forehead. Finn turned around and realised the mess he had made and left. Metal debris, one overturn van and three charred vehicles laid on the highway. The explosions had created a thick cloud of black smoke to rise into the air as well as fire embers. He walked over to his own van and pulled out the duffle: thank god his grenades didn't go off, Finn shuddered at the thought and wrapped the AK-47 around his shoulder and picked up his Ruger. Shoving the rest of his reloads into his pocket, Finn ran back towards the highway Rachel's van had taken. He needed to get away from the highway as quickly as possible, an accident and scene like this would not go unnoticed and Finn didn't want to deal with the police at the moment.

"I need a ride Jackson. I can't catch up with Rachel on foot."

"Fuck, are you _running_ after Rachel?"

"I have no other choice."

Finn jogged on the highway and ignored some of the cars that drove past. He needed to find himself a vehicle otherwise Rachel's trail would become colder and colder with each second. His waist started to ache but Finn had to put the pain aside, his main priority right now was to find a car, in order to catch up to Rachel. Finn could really use a miracle.

Back at Langley, Jackson twirled a pencil in his hand. He needed to go after Finn, he was a field agent for crying out loud, he belonged out there with Finn not stuck in a room. Finn needed him, even though Jackson managed to manoeuvre Finn through Virginia and survive a gunfight with some terrorists, he still belonged out on the field. He had no control over the dangers Finn was facing out in the real world and Jackson absolutely hated that.

"Finn's in trouble." The agent said and threw his pencil to the side, Finn's dot on the tracker map was moving slow: he wasn't going to catch up with Rachel at that speed.

"Did he get shot…again?" Kurt walked over to Jackson and stood behind the agent, observing the monitor.

"No, he totalled the car. He's running after Rachel and he's out in the open with no cover."

"I thought Hiram sent his men after Finn?"

"Yeah, but who knows when they'll catch up to him."

Kurt looked out the window and spied Hiram walking out of the CIA with three of his bodyguards towards a car.

"Well, right now as we speak, Hiram is walking out of Langley. If you run, you might be able to catch him."

Jackson jumped up and peered out the window, he grabbed his gun and lightly punched Kurt on his arm.

"Good thinking…stay here though."

Kurt sat in Jackson's chair and swayed back and forth: he felt utterly useless. He wished he had combat skills or was an agent for the CIA, that way he could join Jackson and Finn on the mission.

Jackson sprinted across the carpark, shoved past the bodyguards and climbed into the front seat next to Hiram in his car. The Director was taken aback at the sudden intrusion.

"You're going after Finn and I want in. I'm the best field agent out there and he needs me."

Hiram locked the car and turned the key in the ignition.

"I couldn't agree more."

Hiram and Jackson sped out of Langley and turned into a road to follow Finn. Jackson pulled out his phone and typed in Finn's tracker name. A white dot appeared on the map and Jackson showed it to the Director.

"If we speed up, we might be able to catch him in twenty."

"Twenty? I'm the _director_ of the CIA, we're gonna reach him in ten." Hiram pressed his foot down on the accelerator and the car revved to life. Jackson felt the speed and leaned back against his seat.

' _Don't worry Finn, we're coming.'_

* * *

The highway ended so Finn followed the single road towards a small town. The neighbourhood was one of those isolated, in-the-middle-of-nowhere towns. Finn spied a couple of policeman patrolling the area and hid behind a fence. Out of the corner of his eye, Finn noticed a group of bikies sitting around on motorcycles…perhaps he could steal one of their bikes. Stealthily moving forward, Finn crouched out of hiding and quietly ran towards the garage. Finn took out his wallet and looked at his licence, he didn't have a CIA or FBI badge but it'll have to do.

"Central Intelligence." Finn called out and showed his 'badge' to the bikies. The gang members looked up and scoffed.

"No, you're not."

"I'm gonna need to borrow your bike." Finn walked up to one of the members and stood his ground. The bikie stood up and towered over Finn, the older man had a putrid breath and his body was twice the size of Finn's. He was standing so close, Finn could almost count each individual body hair. The bikie sucker punched him which made Finn trip over his own foot. He wiped the blood dripping from his noise with the back of his sleeve and chuckled. Finn had just survived a gunfight with Max, a bullet wound to the waist, he managed to kill five terrorists while bleeding out and blow up four vans full of Talisman agents. If that showed anything, it showed Finn was not going down without a fight. He was going to find Rachel and nothing was going to stop him - not even a meagre punch. Finn smiled and right hooked the bikie, knocking him out unconscious.

"Anyone else?" Finn opened his arms and stepped forward, the other bikie members shrunk down. "I thought so." Finn hopped on the motorcycle and sped along the road. He was back on Rachel's trail and feeling as determined as ever.

Jackson looked at the tracker on his phone and realised that Finn was travelling faster than before.

"You son of a bitch, you stole a ride didn't you?" Jackson laughed as he pressed his ear piece.

The wind swept past Finn as he accelerated the motorbike.

"Sure did."

He turned a corner and held on tight as the bike dipped dangerously close to the road. Finn was not wearing a helmet, he had only ridden a motorbike once in his whole life and even though it was quite fast, the bike provided no cover: so Finn was expecting many things to go wrong. He smiled at the thought and felt adrenaline pump through his body.

Just as he was about to accelerate, he heard helicopters flying above him. Finn looked up and realised they were from the CIA. A light shone on him and he groaned. Finn sped up in order to escape from the light.

"Jackson, I've got helicopters trailing above. I think they're here to arrest me."

"No, they're not." A deeper voice answered which was not Jackson's.  
"Hiram?" Finn asked and listened closely to his earpiece.

"They're here to help, you're in charge now Finn. Lead them to Rachel."

Finn heard a few honks and sirens behind him and turned around to see an army of CIA vehicles driving behind him. There were black vans full of men from the Delta Force, Swat, military and CIA. Finn pointed two fingers along the road and ushered for the reinforcements to follow him.

After a few minutes of driving, Finn finally came to a stop in front of a fence. The helicopters had landed a few metres back in order to prevent detection.

He looked inside and saw an abandoned factory standing still in the distance; it was situated on some kind of dock. It was the perfect base to retrieve the shipped arsenal had Hiram not intercepted.

Finn stepped off his motorbike and walked around. He turned back towards the reinforcements and clapped his hands together. He had never led a team this big before and it was daunting. The only team Finn had led were some members from his army unit in a game of capture the flag during their free time, back in Fort Benning.

"Alright, I guess I want everyone to spread out and set up their equipment. Be quiet and stealthy. There could be terrorists behind every corner." Finn said and the agents all nodded and dispersed.

"Look at you leading the team."

Finn turned around and saw a white BMW drive up towards him. Jackson stepped out of the car and ran to Finn's side; they shook hands and turned to see the Director step out. Hiram took one look at Finn and sighed, he marvelled at the state Rachel's former bodyguard was in: he was severely wounded, cuts dotted his face and arms, a large bruise caked the left side of his neck as well as a nasty burn, dried blood covered his face, especially around his lips and nose and let's not even mention Finn's t-shirt which was completely soaked in the red liquid. Finn was wounded, he should be in hospital…but here he was standing before the director with energy to keep fighting.

Hiram couldn't help but regret his past decisions: he had made this poor man's life a living hell and Finn was strong enough to push past multiple adversities and still be determined to find Rachel…to find his daughter. Hiram slowly walked up to Finn and stared at him. No matter how hard he tried, the Director just couldn't find the right words to say. Hiram just simply patted Finn's shoulder and walked away. Jackson lifted an eyebrow and looked at Finn.

"He's a man of many words isn't he?"

Finn shrugged at Jackson's comment and followed the Director. Hiram was busy coordinating his men around the compound. Many agents equipped themselves with night vision goggles, they screwed on silencers on their rifles and guns and stood around listening to Hiram's orders. Jackson lied on his stomach with binoculars in hand, he spied on the factory and jotted some notes in a book. He handed Finn the binoculars and shook his head.

"We need to take out the terrorists standing outside before we can break into the factory."

Finn nodded and counted the terrorists he could see through the binoculars. The factory was massive, Finn counted at least eighty terrorists on the east side of the factory, who knows how many more there could be? Finn turned his head to the left and saw Rachel being carried into the factory by five Talisman insurgents.

"I have Rachel in sight." Finn said out loud and Hiram and all the reinforcements turned to look at him. They all exploded into action, some quickened their pace and others set up equipment like madmen.

"Where is she now?" Hiram asked

"The Talisman just brought her into the factory." Finn handed Jackson his binoculars and stood up. "We need to take out the terrorists on the outside. How many agents do we have in total?" Finn asked and Hiram tapped his foot on the ground.

"Around two thousand."

"Okay, there are eighty terrorists on the east wing and Jackson just told me there are sixty, fifty and another eighty on the north, south and west side respectively. I reckon we should double the number of agents we have on our side. So one hundred and sixty agents take out the eighty terrorists, one hundred agents take out the fifty and so on."

"Backups will have backups." Jackson grinned

"I like what you're thinking. Then once we make it inside the building, the units will separate into smaller groups and spread in order to cover more ground." Hiram nodded his head and rubbed his hands together

Finn nodded.

"Alright, prepare the bombs." Hiram informed and Finn tilted his head in confusion.

"Did you just say bomb?"

"Yes Hudson, once we retrieve my daughter I want to blow up the Talisman's base. Who knows what other secrets they are hiding in there? Who knows what other monstrous event they're planning? I won't rest in peace until everything related to the Talisman is gone."

Finn nodded and prepped himself for his mission. He strapped a bullet proof vest onto his torso and held his rifle in his hands. Bringing down the night vision goggles, Finn led his team towards the East Wing. Jackson ran towards the North with his team and nodded a good luck to Finn. Staying hidden between empty cargo boxes, Finn gave the signal and everyone fired, the silencers muffled the gunshots and dead bodies dropped almost instantly without a sound. Finn crouched forward and made it towards a door. He pushed his ear piece:

"Jackson? You right?"

"Never been better."

Finn breathed a sigh of relief and checked in with the captains of the other units. Breathing out, Finn pushed the door open and was met with a maze-like internal environment.

"Alright, split up, you know what to do. If you find Rachel, radio in and get the hell out of here."

The men nodded and installed the bombs on the walls, Finn wasn't sure if he liked the idea of explosives but still, Rachel came first. Finn joined up with five other delta force agents and walked downstairs. He heard the distant sound of laughs and followed the noise. The air smelt damp and rusty and Finn felt uneasy. He didn't like this. His waist throbbed and Finn winced as a result of the pain, his side was really hurting. He touched it and felt warm liquid drip down his fingers.

'Shit, the stitches must have come off.' Finn thought and kept walking.

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. Just focus on finding Miss Berry." Finn waved his comrade off and took cover behind a wall to check if the coast was clear before walking ahead once more.

"Finn, we have trouble over in the second storey. Don't come here, they found us!"

Jackson's voice rang in Finn's head and he heard the sound of gunshots and shouts above him.

"The Talisman found Jackson and the others. We have to hurry."

Finn and his team ran and fired at the terrorists as they came towards them. Finn quickly reloaded and shot a bullet into the head of an oncoming terrorist. He closed his eyes as the bullet pierced the man's flesh. Killing someone was not something to be proud of. One of the Talisman terrorists had pinned a fellow agent down; Finn ran forwards and slammed the butt of his rifle against the man's temple. Finn grabbed the young agent's hand and pulled him up.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"Andy."

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

Finn ran ahead and cut a corner into a hidden room for coverage.

"Jackson? How's your position?"

"Fucking horrible! Yours!?"

"The same, they're everywhere."

Finn ran backwards, heading further inside the room. He took off his night vision glasses and wiped the sprayed blood and sweat off his face. His team and him were hiding beside a stairwell.

Suddenly, he saw the wavy hair of a brunette girl downstairs, three levels below him.

"I think I just saw Rachel. I'm heading down." Finn informed Jackson

"Alright, be safe."

Finn ran out of hiding and was followed by his team. They ran downstairs and shot at terrorists who were coming up towards them. Out of nowhere, a stray bullet grazed the side of a team member's face - splitting skin - and he dropped down. Finn turned around and kneeled down next to the man. The man shook with pain and fear and brought a trembling hand towards his face.

"Hey, hey, you're gonna be alright." Finn's heart sank when he realised how young the man actually was. He turned to his other team members.

"Andy, get him out of here. Go with him Dan. Make sure you guys make it out alive." Finn just sent three of his team members out of the factory, he didn't know whether he just wrote himself a death sentence but at least he had just saved three agent's lives. With one more agent by his side, Finn sprinted down and finally arrived at the very last level of the factory.

Finn his rifle tight and treaded around carefully.

"Finn! I think we might actually be winning this fight." Jackson shouted through the ear piece.

"Wait, Jackson, give me a minute."

The silence was suspicious, his team member who's name was Alex – Finn just remembered- walked towards the door and opened it slowly. Finn felt his heart in his throat when he realised who was lying on the floor unconscious: Rachel Berry.

Finn ran to Rachel and held her body in his arms. She was still alive, just unconscious. Alex kneeled down next to him and felt her pulse.

"She's good."

Finn gently turned Rachel's face to the side and saw a large green and purple bruise on her jaw. He shook his head and grimaced, he couldn't bear to see Rachel hurt. Finn stood up and held her in his arms: she was so small, so fragile. He turned back and felt a weird tingle in his spine. This seemed too easy. Where was James and where was Udfar?

Suddenly, a showering of bullets pierced the wall next to Finn. James walked out with a gun and pointed it towards Finn. Finn quickly handed Rachel over to Alex and ushered for him to get out: Alex and Rachel's safety came first. Finn kissed Rachel's lips and watched as Alex met up with some other agents, they ran upstairs protecting an unconscious Rachel. Finn turned back towards James, it was only him and the traitor left in the room.

Finn forward rolled away from the shot bullet and took cover behind a column. He pulled his rifle towards his body

"Finn? Rachel's out and she's safe. Where the fuck are you?"

"I'm a little preoccupied with James! You?"

"I'm with Udfar, damn that man's good with a gun!"

"Let's finish this Jackson. Me versus James and you versus Udfar."

"Hell yeah. See you on the other side brother!"

Finn gripped his gun tight and fired bullets towards James. He managed to shoot the gun from James' hand and pierce a bullet in his foot. The traitor called in for reinforcements and Finn saw three Talisman terrorists stand by James. Finn was about to shoot the terrorists when a white-hot pain coursed through his waist: blinding Finn in agony. He was caught by surprise and felt two terrorists grab his shoulders. They lifted the rifle from his hands and smashed it on the ground, Finn struggled in their handle and shook his body to escape from the grip. James walked over and flicked a pocket knife open.

"You shot at my gun." James said and looked over at his destroyed weapon.

"I guess I just have amazing aim."

"I wouldn't make jokes Finn. The CIA may have Rachel but I have you."

"Do you think that's some leverage? I'm nothing to the CIA. Nothing you say or do to me will ever change who I am. So try your hardest to torture me or whatever dumb little thing your stupid ass wants to do."

Jackson laughed and leaned forward towards Finn.

"Did you know I killed Dewey Andreas? I shot that bastard in. the. head."

Jackson pulled back his knife. Finn closed his eyes and shook the thoughts out of his head. He wasn't going to let James taunt him. With all his might, Finn shoved the terrorist on his left side towards James to shield him from the knife. The pocketknife pierced the terrorist's chest and he dropped to the ground. Finn elbowed his other captor in the face and dislocated his shoulder. Finn flowed with his momentum and caught the terrorist by the foot and spun him. The terrorist somersaulted in the air before he landed on the ground: he was out cold.

Finn looked at James who was seething in anger and figuring out what to do next. He lunged at Finn and the two toppled on top of the other on the concrete ground. Finn smashed a fist into James' back and head-butted the man, he took his chance and dove after a lonely gun. Finn quickly grabbed James' glock and pointed it the traitor

"Checkmate."

"You're a murderer Finn. You're no better than me."

Finn shook his head and stared at James.

"If killing you means that I rid the world of a scum like you. Then so be it." Finn pressed the trigger and walked away. He didn't want to turn back; he let the thump of a body be his last memory of this goddam place. Finn was finally able to run out of the room towards Rachel and Alex. He caught up with them three flights of stairs up and shielded Rachel from oncoming gunfire. Finn helped Alex by taking Rachel into his arms and running the homestretch. They finally made it out, several agents congratulated him as he sprinted towards the stretcher. He gently laid her down, brushedR achel's hair aside and looked down at her soft face: she was still in deep sleep, Finn smiled and pulled the covers closer to her neck. Hiram watched in the distance and saw how gentle and affectionate Finn was with her daughter. He too smiled quickly and turned back towards his agents.

"Is everyone back?" The agents looked around and nodded. " Detonate the bombs."

Finn sat next to Rachel and watched as the ambulance arrived to take Rachel to a hospital. He pressed his ear piece.

"Jackson, where are you man? We got Rachel out and James is dead."

There was no answer.

"Jackson?"

Static.

Finn walked away from the buzz of celebrating agents and listened closely.

"Jackson?"

Silence.

Finn felt his heart skip a beat, he ran to Hiram and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hiram, Jackson is still in there. I need to go back in. He's not answering."

Hiram's face turned pale:

"We lost good men tonight Finn."

Finn took a step back. He wasn't going to accept that. He felt adrenaline course through every cell in his body. Jackson was his friend, he saved his life when Finn was bleeding out and he had to return the favour. He couldn't leave Jackson in there.

Finn grabbed Hiram's gun and reloaded it.

"I'm going back in."

Hiram grabbed Finn's arm tight and pulled him closer.

"There is no chance in hell I'm letting you go back in the factory. The bombs have been detonated."

Finn shook himself free and took another step back.

"Never leave a man behind." Finn stood his ground.

Hiram rubbed his face and pointed a harsh finger at Rachel's bodyguard.

"You have five minutes Finn! FIVE MINUTES!"

Finn turned on his heels and sprinted towards the factory.

Five minutes was all he needed.

* * *

Chapter 14 coming soon. Thanks for the reviews!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

"Jackson!"

Finn stepped over the dead bodies and stumbled around looking for the agent. Where the hell was he? Finn pressed the stopwatch mode on his watch for five minutes and racked his brain.

'Think Finn think.'

Finn thought back to his conversation with Jackson. The agent broke in from the north side and he said the second storey was crawling with terrorists. Finn sprinted towards the North Wing and ran up the stairs to the second level. It was a mess. Dead bodies piled on top of each other and blood was sprayed on the walls and the floors. Finn ran through the rooms and flipped each person lying face down, he prayed Jackson wasn't any of the fallen soldiers. He had already lost Dewey to the Talisman and the grief was sometimes unbearable, the loss would hit him sometimes and leave Finn feeling empty and utterly useless – he couldn't let Jackson die at the hands of the same terrorists.

In a way, Jackson was kinda like Dewey and they _were_ starting to become good friends. If life in the army had taught Finn something, it would be to never leave a man behind. Finn left Dewey behind…he wasn't going to do the same Jackson.

"Jackson!" Finn called and looked at his watch: 4 minutes left. Suddenly, a loud cough and groan echoed through the second storey and without a moment to lose, Finn bounded towards the source of the noise. He quickly dragged a dead terrorist away from the bent door and tugged on the door knob. Great. The door was stuck.

Finn focused on the area below the doorknob, stepping back he kicked the door down with the sole of his foot. The door gave a little budge so Finn continuously smashed the door with his foot until it fell on the ground. Dust rose up and Finn coughed, he gripped his gun and pointed it in front. He checked the left and right side before barging into the room.

Bullet holes dotted the walls of the room and the wooden floorboards. He looked around and saw a fallen beam, Finn followed the beam which laid diagonally from the ceiling to the floor. Large fragments of the roof piled on top of each other at the end of the beam, the closer Finn walked towards it: the more he realised that the rubble was on top of someone. Finn rushed towards the beam and started lifting the rocks and fragments off. As more rubble was removed, a hand and discarded gun came into view.

"Shit. Jackson!" Jackson's face appeared once Finn removed a large fragment from the body, considering how much concrete the agent was under, he managed to get away with only a few scratches. Finn felt for a pulse and was relieved to feel the strong throb. The agent coughed and opened his eyes. He turned and saw Finn.

"This seems familiar."

"Quit joking around, we've got 3 minutes before this factory explodes."

"You've got to get yourself out of here, Finn."

"No way." Finn wrapped Jackson's arm around his shoulder and started to stand up until he realised what was stuck under the fallen beam: Jackson's right arm. Finn released the agent and ran to the other side, he grabbed a section of the beam and lifted. It was too heavy, Finn only managed to lift a millimetre off the ground before he let go. Jackson groaned as the weight of the beam smashed his arm once more.

"Just go Finn. Live your life and take care of Rachel. She needs you."

"Shut up. Let me think." Finn walked around the beam and studied it, Udfar laid on his side with five bullet wound on his chest. The man was dead but his eyes were wide open: _this_ was the man who created all this pain and destruction, this was the man who sent death threats to Hiram and captured Rachel…this was the man who wanted him dead.

Finn saw Udfar's pin board in the distance and found a picture of himself next to Dewey with a knife stabbed into his chest. He shuddered and felt anger boil in him; Finn controlled his emotions and turned around to face Jackson. He converted his anger to determination: Udfar wanted him dead so Finn was going to live.

"There's no point, the beam's too heavy. It's alright, I've accepted my death."

"Well I haven't." Finn stretched his arms and walked towards the lower side of the beam once more. He placed the beam on top of his shoulders and prepped himself for a couple of seconds, Finn breathed in and out and looked down at Jackson.

"I'm not leaving you here, you got that!" With all his might, Finn started to stand up from his squat. He felt the weight of the beam against his shoulders and scrunched his face as the edges jabbed into his blades. His body started to shake and his legs trembled with each lift. He felt the beam become heavier and heavier as it lifted. Finn felt Jackson squirm under him as the agent waited until there was enough room to retrieve his arm back.

Sweat dripped down Finn's nose and soaked his clothes and hair. All he could do was grunt, he took a quick look at his watch: 1 minute to go. Inhaling and exhaling quickly, Finn pushed the beam up with his deteriorating strength, he leaned his head back against the board and closed his eyes.

'Come on, come on,' Finn thought through gritted teeth and tensed his body for more strength.

Finally, Jackson pulled his arm towards his body and rolled away from the beam. Finn released the beam and the wooden poll came crashing back down. He doubled over and fought to catch his breath. Jackson ran over to him and grabbed his shirt: he was extraordinarily speechless. All he could do was stare at Finn and shake his head with immense gratitude and disbelief.

"We gotta get out of here." Finn said and the two sprinted towards the exit with thirty seconds left on the clock.

* * *

"Come on kid, come on." Hiram stood in the chilly night with his full focus towards the exit of the factory. Four and a half minutes have gone by and there was still no sign of Finn or Jackson. He held Rachel's hand in his own and brought her wrist to his lips. He kissed Rachel tenderly and enveloped her hands in his own. This is was his fault. Rachel lost her innocence, her childhood, her father and she was now about to lose Finn.

Hiram felt his daughter stir and he turned to look at her.

"Finn?" He heard her say. Hiram shook his head and leaned towards his daughter.

"No, no, it's dad."

Rachel's vision was blurry, once it became clear, the outline of a figure slowly turned out to be her father. Rachel was disheartened and immediately felt guilty. Was it bad that she wanted Finn instead of her dad?

Rachel slowly sat up and Hiram rushed to raise her pillow on the stretcher, she looked around and saw agents standing around. Some avoided her eye contact and the rest stood or sat on the ground staring at the factory, some checked their watches and shook their head.

"He's cutting it close." She heard one agent say.

"Dad, where's Finn?"

Hiram looked at his shoes and finally mustered enough courage to look at his daughter square in the eyes.

"Honey…Finn is still in the factory."

"Okay…what's so bad about that? We defeated the Talisman haven't we?"

"Yes but…Rachel…we also set up a five minute bomb. Finn made it out but Jackson didn't, your bodyguard went back inside to retrieve my agent."

Rachel brought her hands to her mouth involuntarily to stifle her chokes. Tears streamed down her face and she sat straight up.

"How long does he have?" Rachel closed her eyes and prayed. She couldn't lose Finn.

"…thirty seconds."

Rachel choked and grabbed her father's hand tightly.

"Dad, I can't lose him. Please, do something."

"I'll try."

' _I can't lose him.'_

Hiram walked over to his agents and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Patrol the area, look for Finn Hudson and Logan Jackson. Please…find them."

Thirty seconds to go and Hiram was losing all hope in seeing his two boys. He wasn't only scared for Rachel but deep down inside, Hiram himself wanted Finn and Jackson to survive.

* * *

Jackson cradled his arm towards his chest and tried to keep up with Finn. There was ten seconds left and both men knew they weren't going to make it out in time. The exit was too far and they were still on the second level. Finn looked around and spied a window at the far end of the corridor.

Seven seconds…

"What's the possibility that we would land into a body of water if we were to jump out the window?" Finn asked and thought back to the dock surrounding the factory.

Five seconds…

"We'll just have to find out!"

The two men sprinted towards the window; Finn pumped his legs and swung his arms back and forth for speed. He looked over at Jackson who had closed his eyes and already braced himself for the impact.

Three seconds…

Finn brought his arm towards his face and shielded himself from the broken window. Just as Finn and Jackson jumped out of the window, they felt the heat and force of the explosion behind them; the bombs pushed them forward into the air and burnt the fabrics of their cloths. The sound was deafening and all Finn could hear was the sound of his own grunt and scream as he free falled twelve metres down. The last thing he felt before he blacked out was the intense, sharp slap of freezing water enveloping his body.

* * *

The paramedics took Rachel away to a hospital much to her refusal. She didn't want to leave even though she felt her body deteriorating from dehydration every second. The sun was beginning to rise and the sky was slowly becoming light. New reporters swarmed the area and camera crews filmed the scene, Hiram didn't care anymore: he normally hated TV networks trespassing into sites but his focus was all on Finn.

"Mr Berry, what exactly has happened?" A woman shoved a microphone into his face. Hiram took a step back and held his arms out in annoyance.

Suddenly, a loud boom shocked everyone. The force was strong enough to throw Hiram back. The explosion illuminated the night and fire rose into the air in a mushroom-like cloud.

"NO!" Hiram screamed. The news vans and reporters scrambled towards the bomb but Hiram's agents dutifully held them back. Hiram ran towards the blast and was followed by a few CIA operatives.

"I WANT THEM FOUND!" Hiram ran around the factory. The windows have all been blown out. Large fragments of concrete laid on the dock and the fire from the explosion was still burning keenly and brightly. Hiram brought his hands towards his head and kicked the concrete rubble.

"FUCK!" He screamed. He told Finn he had five minutes! But it wasn't enough; he should've done something. He should have gone in with Finn, he should hav-

"Mr Berry!" An agent called and Hiram ran towards the edge of the dock.

"Fuck! That's them!"

Three operatives dove into the water, one turned Jackson onto his back and dragged him onto the wharf whilst two dove down and grabbed a drowning Finn from under the water. They rested the two on the dock, a few paramedics performed CPR: Jackson was the first to be revived. He coughed out water and propped himself on his elbow. Hiram clapped him on his shoulder and squatted in front of the agent.

"Are you alright?" Hiram asked and called in the paramedics to ten to Jackson.

"I'm fine." He coughed.

Jackson wiped the water from his face and accepted a blanket from the paramedics, he turned to look at Finn and felt his heart sink. His friend was still unconscious, Finn's face was pale and his lips were blue. The stitches on Finn's waist had come off and a few paramedics were tending to his bullet wound while another few were performing CPR.

"Sir, we've got to get you to the hospital."

Jackson shook his head and ran towards Finn but his fellow agents stopped him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jackson spat at the agents and tried to free himself from the paramedic's grip. "He's my friend! Hey!...Get off me!...FINN!"

Hiram kneeled on the ground and folded up his jacket to form a makeshift pillow for Finn's head.

"How long was he under?" Hiram asked and stared at Finn. There was no answer.

'Come on kid, breathe, come on.'

The news reporters came bursting through and were filming the revival procedure. Hiram angrily pushed them back, he wasn't thinking anymore. All he wanted was Finn to be revived.

'COME ON!"

* * *

It was dream right? Was he dreaming? Unless he was dead… Black smoke surrounded him like a wisp, he heard her calling his name but was it Rachel? The smoke turned into a figure, the figure had a small frame and was gesturing for him to come closer. He touched her outstretched hand but the figure evaporated. A man faced him now, he lifted his gun into sight and fired, a bullet pierced his body and he felt himself falling…falling…falling.

Finn felt his body come back; he slowly opened his eyes and was blinded by a bright light. He squinted and saw a white room. Was he in a hospital? Finn turned to his side and saw tubes connected to his vein. A standard patient identification band was wrapped around his right wrist

 **Hudson Finn 302-1**

DOB: 24/08/94 AGE: 28 SEX: M

Finn looked over to the left and saw the outline of a woman: she had light brown hair and was looking down at a magazine. Finn squinted and saw a denim jacket resting on her shoulders. He was about to reach over to the woman when his side stung; Finn took a sharp intake of breath and slumped back against the pillows. The woman looked up and Finn realised who she was: his mother.

"Finn!" Carole quickly poured her son a glass of water and helped him drink. Finn felt the cool liquid soothe his dry throat and he closed his eyes with satisfaction.

"How long was I out for?" Finn asked and realised how incredibly hoarse and raspy his voice was.

"Three days."

Finn lifted his eyebrows and felt stubble on his face; he took another sip of water and turned to face his mother. Her face was red and blotchy, she had been crying. She held his hands in hers and cupped them tightly; she didn't want to let her son go.

"Words cannot describe how proud I am of you."

Finn wiped his mum's tears with his fingers and leaned over to kiss her on her cheek. Carole embraced her son and hugged him tightly, her fingers lingered on his face as she sat back down.

"Mum, what happened?"

"Do you remember the explosion?"

"Yeah…"

"You smashed into the water in the dock and according to Hiram, suffered from acute hypothermia. Finn, they found you drowning. You were on the brink of death." Carole's voice quivered and closed her eyes in disbelief.

"How's Rachel?"

"She's good, everyone's worried sick about you though. She checked out yesterday but wanted to drag out her injuries so she could be in the same building as you, until you wake up."

"Is she here right now?"

"No, they needed her ward for a pregnant lady. Honey, I think Rachel is in New York with Kurt. They had an army memorial service yesterday for Dewey and all the soldiers who have passed away recently and Rachel attended it for you. According to Hiram, she's going to NYADA tomorrow just to put her mind off Virginia and the Talisman."

"I want to see her." Finn smiled, he couldn't believe Rachel attended Dewey's funeral for him. She was truly something…

He caught his reflection in the distant mirror and exhaled. He was a mess: his brown hair was dishevelled, he had dark circles under his eyes, a butterfly stitch across his forehead, a split lip, cuts across his face, a bruised nose and Finn could still go on and count all the injuries he had.

"I missed you mum." Finn looked at his mother. "I haven't seen you since I left for the army." He shook his head and marvelled at the time away from his mother.

"Oh Finn, I missed you too."

After a couple minutes of silence, Carole took a deep breath and spoke.

"Your dad would've been _so_ proud of you. Not only did you protect Rachel from terrorists, you fought them head on and saved Mr Jackson. You are unbelievable Finn."

A knock on the door brought Finn and Carole's attention towards the end of the ward. An agent walked in and saluted Finn, Finn was taken aback.

"Good morning Mr Hudson. I have a message from Mr Berry: he would like to meet you at Langley. Everyone wants to see you."

Finn nodded and thanked the agent. Carole grabbed Finn's clothes and after a couple of nurses checked his vitals and asked for his autograph: Finn got the all clear from the doctor. He slowly stood up from his bed and walked over to the bathroom, Carole left the room to give Finn some privacy and quickly ran to the cafeteria to buy her son breakfast. Finn brushed his teeth, shaved and stepped into the shower.

He faced the wall and closed his eyes as the warm water flowed down his back and soothed all the bruises and injuries. He tilted his head back and let the water run through his hair and scalp. Finn was in the shower for at least half an hour, it felt too nice to leave. He finally combed his dishevelled hair and dressed himself in a clean, white long sleeve shirt and jeans.

Finn met his mother outside and walked out of the hospital. Several injured agents from the Talisman Operation were still staying in the hospital; they all acknowledged Finn and some even saluted. He wasn't used to this newfound attention. In fact, it made Finn feel quite weird: he was still an ordinary guy.

Hiram wanted to see Finn so he travelled with his mum in a private CIA car towards headquarters. He looked out the window and could finally breathe in a sigh of relief: he was extraordinarily happy the whole Talisman ordeal was over. He managed to save Rachel and funnily enough was fortunate to live to tell the tale. Come to think of it, his 'rogue' mission was actually a success.

The car pulled into the carpark and Finn saw news vans parked around Langley. The moment he got out, journalists and news presenters swarmed him.

"Finn! How are you feeling?"

"What happened during the explosion?"

"How did you survive?"

"How did you feel when you ran back into the factory knowing you had five minutes until it exploded?"

"Mr Hudson, what's your relationship status with Miss Berry?"

The bodyguards provided a protective barrier and touched Finn's back to usher him towards the entrance.

The sound of applause greeted him as he stepped foot inside Langley. Many agents stood around and clapped as Finn walked past them.

"Whoa, what is this?" Finn asked his mum

"This is for you Finn, you're a hero."

Shannon Beiste and Alistair came into view and walked towards Finn. She grabbed her soldier and pulled him into a hug. Shannon was watching the news when they covered the Talisman and factory story live, she was on the edge of her seat when the cameraman filmed Finn's CPR. Not once did she leave the couch, all she cared about was Finn's survival.

Shannon shook her head and cupped Finn's face with her right hand.

"Thank god you survived Finn, I guess I don't have to kick your ass anymore." Finn remembered their conversation back at Lawson and smiled.

"Thanks for having my back coach."

Hiram walked down the stairs and towards Finn. He held out his hand and Finn was about to shake it when the Director pulled him into an embrace. Finn stood awkwardly for a few seconds before he returned the hug. He patted the Director's back and felt Hiram place his hand on his neck. He looked at Finn with immense gratitude and turned his attention to Carole. He walked forwards and grabbed her hand.

"Your son is an amazing man." Hiram said, he turned his attention to Finn, "Come to my office, I need to talk to you."

* * *

Finn sat down in the blue leather couches and faced Hiram. The last time Finn had an encounter with Hiram, he was shoving Finn into a wall and shouting at him for sleeping with Rachel on the job.

"You are one of a kind Finn Hudson."

Finn shrugged and waved Hiram off.

"I was just doing my job sir."

"No, you risked your life to save my daughter, my best agent…not a lot of agents would do that for their peers. You've shown humility, resilience and you put others in front of yourself. You sir…are a natural born leader."

Finn smiled and furrowed his brow, as much as he liked the praise. He wasn't sure where Hiram was going.

"…which is why I want to offer you a job in the CIA."

Finn looked up and lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

"Uh-uh-um, w-what position s-specifically?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"Director."

"Mr Berry, thankyou for the offer but I can't accept that. You _love_ your job and you're good at it."

"Well, after days of debate, I have finally come to a decision…I'm retiring Finn. When Rachel stood in your defence after I fired you, she said something that really shook my relationship with her and I can't bring myself to push Rachel away any more. I need to be a dad and spend time with my daughter like a normal father."

Finn nodded in agreement, Hiram rested a hand on Finn's shoulder and squeezed. Finn closed his eyes, if he imagined hard enough: it was almost as if Hiram was his father and the squeeze was the approval he'd never gotten from his own dad.

"Think about it."

Hiram was about to walk out when Finn turned and caught a glimpse of his mother. She was sitting alone in the reception with her hands on her lap and waiting for her son's meeting to finish. Finn stood up and called Hiram.

"The thing is, I feel the exact same way. There are some relationships that I need to mend and rekindle as well. I mean…I would love to work and be in the CIA in the future-"

Hiram smiled and crossed his arms. "My offer's always open to you Finn. But do you know of anyone who would be up to take my position?" Finn smiled and nodded.

"I know of one guy…"

* * *

Finn walked down the stairs and saw Jackson sitting down with Carole and conversing. Finn's mum held Jackson's hand in her own and was nodding along to the agent as he spoke. Jackson turned around and faced Finn, he stood up immediately and ran towards his friend. He had one arm in a sling and a cut across the bridge of his nose.

"Fucking hell." Jackson hugged Finn: he was completely speechless. "I thought you fucking died, you know you were unconscious for half an hour before they revived you. Dude, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Nice to see you too Jackson." Finn chuckled.

"I lost Palmer…I couldn't lose you too."

Finn punched Jackson on the shoulder jokingly and ruffled the guy's hair.

"Cheer up, why else do you think I ran back in the factory? You're my favourite asshole."

Jackson laughed and shook his head in disbelief: Finn Hudson just woke up from his three-day coma and was already cracking jokes. The man was one of a kind.

"Well, I hope to see you again…partner." Jackson held out his hand, he knew Finn wasn't going to stick around in Virginia, he didn't know when he was going to see Finn again but he would wait happily for that day to come. Finn shook hands and turned around to walk with Carole towards the carpark.

"Oh by the way, Hiram offered me the position of Director and I have you to thank. I'll be waiting for the day you come back and lead the CIA."

* * *

Finn couldn't wait to see Rachel, the CIA flew him and his mother to New York on private jet. It was just like the first time Finn met Rachel, except this time…Finn wasn't nervous. His mother let him go once they arrived at the aiport.

"Go get your girl." She told him and Finn chuckled. He caught a cab to NYADA and smoothed his hair before he walked inside. He was excited to see Rachel Berry.

* * *

Rachel had four hours to kill before hopping on a plane back to Virginia. Her dad offered to pick her up from New York on a private jet but Rachel wanted some time away from the CIA: just to put her mind off things. She just wanted to feel like a normal girl for a while and so catching a domestic airline was a start for her.

She was in the emergency room for two hours, they patched up her bruises and hooked her up on an IV drip, after that, Rachel was back to being the healthy girl she was before the whole Talisman ordeal. Her only concern was for Finn. The last time she saw him, Finn was in an induced coma on a hospital bed.

She attended Dewey's funeral for him while he was still in hospital. The Andreas family was struggling to pay for the funeral so Rachel and her other father, Leroy paid for the memorial: Dewey was Finn's best friend. Rachel didn't expect herself to cry so much though, she hardly knew the guy but after all the eulogies, Rachel knew Dewey was a great guy…no wonder Finn and him were so close. She laid down a flower at his gravestone and talked about Finn to him, talking to a gravestone it was weird at first, but then it felt right.

After the funeral, Rachel went to NYADA to kill time until her flight. Everyone welcomed her back with open arms even Cassandra. So now, Rachel was strapping on her jazz shoes and walking over to the bars to stretch. People were unsure what to say to her at first, just in case she had PTSD from the Talisman but Rachel was surprisingly fine and raring to get her life back.

"Five, six, seven eight."

Her plies were a little rusty but she still had a nice, steady rhythm in her steps. She just couldn't wait until she could board her plane to meet Finn again. As she was about to start her turns and jumps, Rachel saw her class stop in their tracks.

"Why are we all stopping?" Rachel asked. Cassandra and all her class mates were staring at the door, some of them gasped and some smiled at her. Rachel turned around and felt her stomach flutter because standing in the doorway was…Finn.

Rachel brought her hands to her face in shock and felt tears building behind her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Finn was standing in the doorway at NYADA. Rachel couldn't wait any longer, she ran towards him and smashed her body in his.

Wrapping her arms around Finn, she let her tears flow but this time, they were happy tears.

A sweet smell enveloped his body and all Finn could do was smile and pull Rachel into an embrace.

"I love you so much." Rachel said and nuzzled herself into the crook of Finn's neck. Finn looked into her eyes and leaned in for a kiss. The two kissed passionately in the middle of the class – not caring about the hundreds of eyes staring at them in front and behind.

"Rachel, I love you too." Finn leaned his head towards Rachel and closed his eyes. All he could say was… _finally._ She cupped his face gently and steered away from his wounds.

"I thought I lost you." She whispered and wrapped her fingers in Finn's. She felt his warmth around her body.

"Remember what I said? I'll _always, always_ come back to you."

Rachel turned back and saw Cassandra giving her permission to skip class. Thanking her dance teacher with a smile, Rachel and Finn walked out of NYADA together.

* * *

"Oh my gosh." Kurt gasped the moment he saw Finn walk into the apartment with Rachel. He ran to him and embraced Finn. Kurt looked at the two and smiled, they were soul mates: Finn and Rachel were just meant to be.

"Well, I'm going out on a fashion spree with Carole. You two lovebirds take care." Kurt hugged Rachel once more and walked out of the apartment, leaving Finn and Rachel alone in the apartment. Both too exhausted to walk around Central Park, Finn and Rachel rested on the couch: they had a blanket draped over the both of them and pillows surrounding their bodies. Rachel wrapped herself in Finn's arms and rested on his firm, muscular chest. Finn's head rested on Rachel's and he was rubbing circles on the back of Rachel's hand with his thumb. In that moment, even though they didn't speak…it just felt right. They were in each other's company and it was the happiest moment the both of them felt in a long time.

Finn and Rachel dozed off next to each other, they never noticed Kurt walking in and taking a quick picture of the sleeping couple, they never noticed Carole wiping her tears away as she observed her son napping soundly next to Rachel and they never noticed the sun set and fall below the horizon…because in that moment:

Everything was perfect.

* * *

Last Chapter coming soon


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue

 _Two years later_

Finn sat on the beach watching his wife Rachel Berry snorkel in the crystal blue ocean. The sun was just about to set so the sky had a gorgeous pink and orange hue. He balled his shirt into a pillow and tucked it behind his head, Finn laid shirtless on the beach, feeling the warmth of the sand against his back. He heard a trudging sound and looked up to see Rachel walking towards him, she grabbed a towel and dried herself off before cuddling next to her husband.

"This honeymoon is really something." Rachel said and looked up at Finn's brown eyes.

"How so?"

"Because I get to spend every second with the most gorgeous guy in the world."

Finn leaned in for a kiss and Rachel placed a hand on his neck, she straddled his lower half and kissed him passionately.

"The most gorgeous guy in the world? So does that mean I beat Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling?" Finn teased through kisses.

"Okay, now you're just fishing for compliments." The two laughed and collapsed on top of the other. He handed Rachel a glass of champagne and looked out into the horizon, the sun had created a soft golden glow across the ocean and the sunlight had finally dimmed. Finn looked down and placed a finger on the bullet wound scar on his waist, it had been two years and it was finally starting to fade. Rachel looked up and trailed her fingers up Finn's body.

"I think it's sexy." Rachel said and leaned closer to Finn. "Battle scars turn me on." Her hands trailed down to his board shorts and rested on top, she slowly palmed Finn through his pants, eliciting a groan.

"Are we going to have sex on the beach?" Finn grinned as Rachel pulled off her bikini top and traced circles around her husband's abs.

"It _is_ a private beach."

* * *

A lot had happened in two years, Rachel finally became a Broadway sensation and won two Tony's, Carole married Burt and having Kurt as a stepbrother was actually pretty cool, Finn declined the directorial position in the CIA, he didn't want to take the job away from Jackson. The agent was actually pretty good at his job, under Jackson's direction, the CIA managed to solve nine cases in the past month. Finn had a passion for teaching though, so he found a position in the CIA he liked better: a combat trainer for young CIA recruits meaning he could station in New York with Rachel and train hopefuls before they make their way to Langley, he could also see his partner Jackson fortnightly during team briefings: a private jet from the CIA would normally pick Finn up and he was still able to go out on the field with Jackson and his men whenever he liked.

Lastly, after two years: Finn finally proposed to his soul mate…Rachel Berry.

Finn stood up and grabbed the picnic basket in one hand, it was the last day of their honeymoon so he booked them in for dinner at a five star restaurant. Along the way they met a couple of fans and happily signed autographs. Three young girls ran up to Rachel and talked to her about ballet and singing while two young boys rocked up to Finn and told him they wanted an action figure of him and that he was their hero.

"I saw you on tv. You jumped out of the window like James Bond!" A young freckled blonde said and jumped up and down.

Life was hectic but…perfect.

Rachel and Finn held hands and walked away from the beach towards the resort. During dinner, Finn rested his head on his palm and watched Rachel as she ate.

"What?" She asked and looked up.

"You're really beautiful, you know that?"

"I know...you tell me i am every minute." Rachel smiled and kissed Finn. She couldn't believe everything that had happened, it was like she was living in a fairytale. Never in a million years would her younger self imagine that in the future, she would be a famous Broadway star who's married to a very handsome Central Intelligence Agent.

The flight back to Virginia was relaxing, Finn and Rachel dropped their bags off at Jackson's house, cleaned up a bit and made their way to Langley once more.

"Good afternoon Mr Hudson." Agents would acknowledge Finn whenever he walked past and Rachel knew he liked the attention, Jackson just came back from visiting Palmer's gravestone and was leaning over to fill his water bottle at the water dispenser when he saw Finn and Rachel walk out of the elevator. Rachel hadn't seen Jackson for a while but the Director looked good, he had cut his wavy hair short and grown a bit of stubble...she _had_ to introduce a couple of her friends to him.

"And how's the married couple?" Jackson asked as he hugged Finn and Rachel.

"Great. We're really good."

"How's the Director himself going?" Finn looked at his best mate and wrapped his arms around Rachel.

"Stressed but you know, it _is_ the CIA." Jackson laughed and checked his pager. "I have a couple of new recruits back in New York that i have to show you." Jackson ushered Finn and Rachel into his office and brought out a stack of profiles.

"They've got a long way to go...but you'll knock'em into shape, like you always do." Jackson said and pointed Finn towards a recruit. "Especially this one, this here is Mitch Huxley, he's twenty two, quite talented but he has an attitude."

"Like your's when we were still enemies?" Finn laughed and the Director nodded in agreement and chuckled. The Talisman mission was still the talk of the whole CIA, even though the event happened two years ago, everyone could remember it like it was just yesterday. It was the first time a soldier from the army disobeyed a Director's orders and went on his own rogue mission to save his girl. Jackson wouldn't be surprised if Finn encouraged a string of copycats but he still believed there was no one like Finn Hudson.

That afternoon, Finn and Rachel received a call from both Hiram and Carole, saying that they wanted to visit the newlywed couple in Virginia, so Jackson offered to host a small gathering at his house.

A couple of hours later, Finn and Jackson were sat on the couch watching a football game while Rachel and Kurt helped out around the house and prepped the dining table for dinner. The doorbell rang and Jackson hopped up to open it, Hiram, Leroy, Burt and Carole were all waiting outside the door holding bottles of wine. Everyone hugged everyone and they all sat down around the table.

"So...how was the honeymoon?" Carole asked and smiled broadly at her son.

"It was amazing, especially since i got to spend time with Rachel." He looked at Rachel and leaned in for a quick kiss. Kurt looked at the couple adoringly, he shipped them before they even liked each other.

"I'm actually jealous, look at your tans!"

The gang spent the rest of the evening laughing and talking while Rachel and Finn held hands under the table during dinner. Jackson's German Shepherd hung around and would often stick his snout onto Finn's lap.

"We gotta get ourselves a dog." Finn said as he patted Thor's head.

"...Or a cat."

"...Or both."

Once dinner was finished, everyone sat around the couch to watch the football game in which Finn and Rachel took the opportunity to sit beside the fluorescent pool and dip their feet in. Rachel was leaning her body on Finn and twirling her toes in the cool water, she looked over at her husband who was day dreaming and felt bold enough to push him into the pool. Finn was caught by surprise and fell into the cold water: he was soaked. He surfaced and stared at Rachel.

"Thanks for that." He joked and shook his hair. "Alright, help me up." Finn lifted his hand towards Rachel to pull him up but she stepped back.

"No way, i'm not that gullible."

"Oh really?"

Finn pushed himself up and ran after a squealing Rachel, he carried her in his arms and jogged towards the pool. Throwing Rachel in the pool, Finn jumped in after and pulled his wife into his arms. They were both wet and splashing each other for a while. Laughing like maniacs, Finn and Rachel swam around the pool and finally dipped towards the middle of the pool. The lights around the backyard illuminated the pool and the night sky, Finn wrapped his arms around Rachel's waist and gently pulled Rachel's hair behind her ears. He looked at his wife lovingly and smiled:

"Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Finn Hudson-" Rachel rested her arms on his shoulders and tilted her head, "-I love you more."

"…If you say so."

* * *

Thankyou so much for reading my first story! The reviews have been amazing and I'm just so happy to share this story with you guys.

Until next time,

Dedreas.


End file.
